Global Environmental Politics

Description

 

This class will introduce students to the central concepts, theoretical positions, policy debates, and empirical issues in today’s environmental politics. Focusing on interactions that occur in the international arena, we will interrogate how issues are defined as global environmental problems, then discuss the activities that have been undertaken to respond to these problems: the solutions proposed, their implementation, and the effectiveness of regulatory and governance efforts. We will identify a number of tensions in today’s international environmental politics and consider how these might be resolved. Throughout the class, we will consider the roles of numerous actors, including states, NGOs, and the private sector. In the course of these discussions, students will gain familiarity with a wide variety of environmental cases, including ozone depletion, climate change, marine pollution, deforestation, biodiversity loss, freshwater pollution, and transfers of hazardous waste.

 

Expectations

This is a seminar course. While I may lecture briefly, most of the course will consist of class discussions. You are expected to complete all of each week’s required readings prior to class, so you can participate fully. Participation will account for 25% of your grade.

Evaluation will also depend on your critical analysis skills. Over the course of the semester, each student will write three brief memos (2-3 pages) reviewing the week’s readings. These memos are due at the beginning of the class in which we are discussing the reviewed readings. You have some flexibility in the weeks you choose, but your memos must be distributed across the class sections:

• one in the “Defining the Problem” weeks (3-4) = 10% of your grade
• one in the “Solving the Problem” weeks (5-11) = 12.5% of your grade
• one in the “Tensions in Environmental Politics” weeks (12-13) = 12.5% of your grade

Finally, each student will write an “Expert Report” on a selected environmental problem that has been addressed at the international level (15-20 pages). In this report, you will outline the scope of the problem, explain how it has been conceptualized in international politics, discuss efforts to respond to it, evaluate the effectiveness of those efforts, and identify possible policy changes for the future. In week 14 (June 4th), you will present a brief version of your report to the class. The presentation accounts for 10% of your grade; the report is 30%. A 1-2 page Expert Report Proposal is due any time before May 4th. This short assignment is ungraded, but will give you the opportunity to get feedback on your topic.

 

Week 1: February 23

Introduction: Global Environmental Politics, a brief chronology

 

Week 2: March 2
Is there a problem?

• Graham M. Turner (2008) “A Comparison of The Limits to Growth with 30 Years of Reality,” Global Environmental Change 18(3): 397-411.
• Julian Simon (1980) “Resources, Population, Environment: An Oversupply of False Bad News,” Science, June 27, pp. 1431-1437.
• SKIM: Bjorn Lomborg (2001) The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, pp. 3-33. [in polycopié]
• (2002) “Misleading Math About the Earth - Science Defends Itself Against The Skeptical Environmentalist,” Scientific American. January
• Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren (1971) “Impacts of Population Growth,” Science 171 (3977): 1212-1217.
• Thomas Princen, Michael Maniantes, and Ken Conca (2002) “Confronting Consumption” in Confronting Consumption, Princen, Maniantes and Conca, eds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [in polycopié]

 

Week 3: March 9
Defining the Problem: Concepts

• Garrett Hardin (1968) “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162(3859): 1243-1248.
• Susan J. Buck Cox (1985) “No Tragedy of the Commons,” Environmental Ethics 7:49-61.
• Robert Keohane and Elinor Ostrom (1995) “Introduction” in Local Commons and Global Interdependence, Keohane and Ostrom, eds. London: Sage Publications. (In Polycopié)
• Andrew Hurrell and Benedict Kingsbury (1992) “The International Politics of the Environment: an Introduction” in The International Politics of the Environment, Hurrell and Kingsbury, eds. Gloucestershire: Clarendon Press. [in polycopié]
• RECOMMENDED (for an overview of concepts in international environmental law): Jacqueline Peel (2011) “Environmental Protection in the Twenty-first Century: the Role of International Law,” chapter 3 in The Global Environment: Institutions, Law and Policy, 3rd edition, Axelrod, VanDeveer, and Downie, eds. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [in polycopié]

 

Week 4: March 16 
Film Viewing

 

Week 5:  March 23
Defining the Problem: Science/Knowledge/Authority

• Roger Pielke Jr. (2004) “When Scientists Politicize Science: Making Sense of Controversy over the Skeptical Environmentalist,” Environmental Science and Policy 7: 405-417.
• Peter Haas (1990) “Obtaining International Environmental Protection Through Epistemic Consensus,” Millennium 19: 347-364.
• Karen Litfin (1995) “Framing Science: Precautionary Discourse and the Ozone Treaties,” Millennium 24: 251-277.
• Marybeth Long Martello (2001) “A Paradox of Virtue? ‘Other’ Knowledges and Environment-Development Politics,” Global Environmental Politics 1(3): 114-141.

 

Week 6: March 30 
Solving Environmental Problems: International Institutions

• David Downie (2011) “Global Environmental Policy: Governance Through Regimes,” chapter 3 in The Global Environment: Institutions, Law and Policy, 3rd edition, Axelrod, VanDeveer, and Downie, eds. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [in polycopié]
• Marvin S. Soroos (2011) “Global Institutions and the Environment: an Evolutionary Perspective,” chapter 2 in The Global Environment: Institutions, Law and Policy, 3rd edition, Axelrod, VanDeveer, and Downie, eds. Washington, DC: CQ Press. [in polycopié]
• Fomerand, Jacques (1996) “UN Conferences: Media Events or Genuine Diplomacy?” Global Governance 2(3): 361-375.
• Steven Bernstein (2000) “Ideas, Social Structure, and the Compromise of Liberal Environmentalism,” European Journal of International Relations 6.
• RECOMMENDED (for more information on international regime formation): Oran Young (1989) “The Politics of International Regime Formation: Managing Natural Resources and the Environment,” International Organization 43(3): 349-375.

 

Week 7: April 6
Solving Environmental Problems: Effectiveness

• Oran Young and Marc Levy (1999) “The Effectiveness of International Environmental Regimes,” in The Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements, Young, ed. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. [in polycopié]
• Thomas Bernauer and Peter Moser (1996) “Reducing Pollution of the Rhine River” The Journal of Environment Development 5(4): 389-415.
• Ronald Mitchell (1994) “Regime Design Matters: International Oil Pollution and Treaty Compliance,” International Organization 48: 425-458.
• Stacy D. VanDeveer and Geoffrey D. Dabelko (1996) “It’s Capacity, Stupid: International Assistance and National Implementation” Global Environmental Politics 1(2): 18-29.

 

Week 8: April 13 
Solving Environmental Problems: States

• Detlef Sprinz and Tapani Vaahtoranta (1994) “The Interest-Based Explanation of International Environmental Policy,” International Organization 48: 77-105.
• Kal Raustiala (1997) “Domestic Institutions and International Regulatory Cooperation: Comparative Responses to the Convention on Biological Diversity,” World Politics 49(4): 482-509.
• Ken Conca (1994) “Rethinking the Ecology-Sovereignty Debate,” Millenium 23(3).
• Nancy Peluso (1993) “Coercing Conservation: the Politics of State Resource Control” Global Environmental Change 3(2): 199-217.
• RECOMMENDED (for details on developing countries’ perspectives): Adil Najam (2005) “Developing Countries and Global Environmental Governance: From Contestation to Participation to Engagement,” International Environmental Agreements 5: 303-321.

 

Week 9: April 20

Solving Environmental Problems: Civil Society

• Kal Raustiala (1997) “States, NGOs, and International Environmental Institutions,” International Studies Quarterly 41: 719-740.
• Michele M. Betsill and Elisabeth Corell (2001). "NGO Influence in International Environmental Negotiations: A Framework for Analysis." Global Environmental Politics 1(4): 65-85.
• Paul Wapner (1995) “Politics Beyond the State: Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics,” World Politics 47: 311-340.
• Ranjit Dwivedi (2001) “Environmental Movements in the Global South: Issues of Livelihood and Beyond,” International Sociology 16(1): 11-31.

Week 10: April 27 
NO CLASS (Spring Break)

 

Week 11: May 4 
Solving Environmental Problems: The Private Sector

• RECOMMENDED (for overview): Robert Falkner (2003) “Private Environmental Governance and International Relations: Exploring the Links,” Global Environmental Politics 3(2): 72-87.
• David L. Levy (2005) “Business and the Evolution of the Climate Regime: the Dynamics of Corporate Strategies” in The Business of Global Environmental Governance, Levy and Newell, eds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (In Polycopé)
• Peter Utting (2000) “UN-Business Partnerships: Whose Agenda Counts?” Paper presented at seminar on Partnerships for Development or Privatization of the Multilateral System? organized by the North-South Coalition, Oslo, Norway, 8 December.
• Benjamin Cashore (2002) “Legitimacy and the Privatization of Environmental Governance: How Non-State Market-Driven (NSMD) Governance Systems Gain Rule-Making Authority,” Governance 15(4): 503–529.
• Jennifer Clapp (1998) “The Privatization of Global Environmental Governance: ISO 14000 and the Developing World,” Global Governance 4(3): 295–316.

EXPERT REPORT PROPOSAL DUE BY TODAY!

 

Week 12: May 11 
Tensions in Environmental Politics: Trade

• Elizabeth DeSombre and Samuel J. Barkin (2002) “Turtles and Trade: The WTO’s Acceptance of Environmental Trade Restriction,” Global Environmental Politics 2(1): 12-18.
• Robyn Eckersley (2004) “The Big Chill: The WTO and Multilateral Environmental Agreements,” Global Environmental Politics 4(2): 24-50.
• Jennifer Clapp (2002) “The Distancing of Waste: Overconsumption in a Global Economy,” chapter 7 in Confronting Consumption, Princen, Maniantes and Conca, eds. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [in polycopié]
• David Vogel (1997) “Trading Up and Governing Across: Transnational Governance and Environmental Protection,” Journal of European Public Policy 4(4): 556-571.
• RECOMMENDED: Herman E. Daly (1993) “The Perils of Free Trade” Scientific American 269(5): 50-57.

 

Week 13: May 18 
Tensions in Environmental Politics: Sustainable Development

• Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne (2005) “Economic Growth in a World of Wealth and Poverty,” chapter 4 in Paths to a Green World. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. [in polycopié]
• World Commission on Environment and Development (1987) “Towards Sustainable Development,” chapter 2 in Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [in polycopié]
• Sharachchandra M. Lélé (1991) “Sustainable Development: a Critical Review,” World Development 19(9): 607-621.
• Gabriela Kutting (2003) “Globalization, Poverty and the Environment in West Africa: Too Poor to Pollute?” Global Environmental Politics 3(4): 42-60.

 

Week 14: May 25
Moving Forward?

• Frank Biermann (2000) “The Case for a World Environmental Organization,” Environment 42(9): 22-31.
• Adil Najam (2003) “The Case against a New Environmental Organization,” Global Governance 9(3): 367-384.
• Paul Wapner (2003) “World Summit on Sustainable Development: Toward a Post-Jo’burg Environmentalism,” Global Environmental Politics, 3 (1): 1-10.
• Thomas N. Hale and Denise L. Mauzerall (2004) “Thinking Globally and Acting Locally: Can the Johannesburg Partnerships Coordinate Action on Sustainable Development?” Journal of Environment & Development 13(3): 220-239
• Michael F. Maniates (2001) “Individualization: Plant a Tree, Ride a Bike, Save the World?” Global Environmental Politics 1(3): 31-52.

 

Week 15: June 1

NOTE: This class may be extended/rescheduled.
Presentations of Expert Reports

Expert Reports

DUE:   by 23:59 June 8th
Email to: emily.meierding@graduateinstitute.ch
File format:  .doc
File title:  yourfamilyname_expertreport.doc