GV592-6-SP-CO:
International Environmental Politics

The details
2025/26
Government
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
15
08 August 2025

 

Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)

 

(none)

Key module for

(none)

Module description

This module offers an overview of the international politics of environmental problems in a comparative (cross-national) perspective.


The module facilitates an understanding of how international problem-solving efforts emerge among various actors, what kind of impact such instruments have, and why states’ efforts to regulate global environmental issues might fail.


The world community's response to transnational environmental issues has been to build a complex structure of environmental institutions and multilateral agreements. We will examine the underlying theoretical approaches comprehensively, paying particular attention to the design of international environmental institutions, the determinants of states participating in these institutions, and their effectiveness.


International environmental cooperation is complex and multidimension. To this end, we will examine the indirect effects of global environmental governance. We will then move to some crucial consequences of climate change namely conflict and migration.


We then study the nexus of trade and the environment at a global level in trying to answer whether globalization facilitates or worsens the international community's response to global environmental problems. Finally, we explore the possibilities for enhanced environmental governance and the future of international environmental politics.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:



  • To provide students with the necessary analytical foundations to conduct theoretical and empirical comparative research on the environment.

  • To engage with a wide range of applied material relating to comparative environmental politics.

  • To generate ideas and design a study that engages with contemporary environmental issues in a theoretically sound and empirically aware perspective.

  • To provide students with the necessary analytical foundations to conduct theoretical and empirical research on the environment. The focus of this module does not lie on specific research techniques.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:



  1. Read and understand academic articles.

  2. Read, understand and write a policy brief.

  3. Read, understand and write a policy report.

  4. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the fundamental issues related to the international politics of the environment.

  5. Demonstrate knowledge of the major political theories regarding the managemen of environmental resources.

  6. Demonstrate an understanding of how many actors are involved in addressing and solving environmental issues such as climate change.

Module information

Indicative Syllabus:



  • Introduction to international environmental politics

  • International environmental institutions

  • State participation in environmental institutions

  • The performance of international institutions

  • Unintended consequences of global environmental governance

  • International environmental agreements

  • Globalisation and the environment

  • Climate change and conflict

  • Climate change and migration

  • The future of international environmental politics

Learning and teaching methods

The module will be delivered via:

  • 2 hour seminar, in person (on campus)

Bibliography

  • Carter, N. (2019) Politics of the Environment. 3rd Revised edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Virtual Publishing). Available at: https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781108642163.
  • O'Neill, K. (2017) The Environment and International Relations. Second edition. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
  • 'Effects of civil society involvement on popular legitimacy of global environmental governance. Global Environmental Change' (no date).
  • 'Post-Paris agreement negotiations: A commitment to multilateralism despite the lack of funding' (no date).
  • 'The legitimacy and legitimation of international organizations: Introduction and framework.' (no date). Available at: https://doi.org/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11558-018-9330-7.
  • 'Do global climate summits influence public awareness and policy preferences concerning climate change?.' (no date).
  • 'Democracy, autocracy, and everything in between: how domestic institutions affect environmental protection.' (no date).
  • 'Can Autocracy Handle Climate Change' (no date).
  • 'Weiss, E.B., 1998. Understanding Compliance with International Environmental Agreements: The Baker's Dozen Myths. U. Rich. L. Rev., 32, p.1555.' (no date).
  • 'The triangular relationship between public concern for environmental issues, policy output, and media attention' (no date).
  • 'The regime complex for climate change. Perspectives on politics' (no date).
  • 'Assessing the effectiveness of intergovernmental organisations in international environmental politics.' (no date).
  • 'The institutional fragmentation of global environmental governance: Causes, consequences, and responses' (no date).
  • 'Backlash to climate policy. Global Environmental Politics' (no date).
  • 'What we know (and could know) about international environmental agreements' (no date).
  • 'Soft law, hard law, and effective implementation of international environmental norms' (no date).
  • 'Environmental-agreement design and political ideology in democracies' (no date).
  • Carter, N. (2018) The politics of the environment: ideas, activism, policy. Third edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • 'Development, trade, and the environment: how robust is the Environmental Kuznets Curve?' (no date).
  • 'Helpful organizations: membership in inter-governmental organizations and environmental quality in developing countries.' (no date).
  • 'Climate change and conflict' (no date).
  • 'From climate change to conflict? No consensus yet' (no date).
  • 'Whither the weather? Climate change and conflict' (no date).
  • 'Climate variability and transnational migration: A dyadic analysis.' (no date).
  • 'Perceptions of environmental change and migration decisions' (no date).
  • 'Climatic conditions are weak predictors of asylum migration' (no date).
  • 'Global environmental governance: Taking stock, moving forward' (no date).
  • 'Prisoners of the wrong dilemma: why distributive conflict, not collective action, characterizes the politics of climate change' (no date).
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam Description Deadline Coursework weighting
Coursework   Moodle quiz  13/02/2026  30% 
Coursework   Policy brief  27/02/2026  35% 
Coursework   Policy Report  27/03/2026  35% 

Exam format definitions

  • Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
  • In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
  • In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%

Reassessment

Coursework Exam
100% 0%
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Zorzeta Bakaki, email: zbakak@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Zorzeta Bakaki
Module Supervisor: Dr Zorzeta Bakaki, zbakak@essex.ac.uk / Student Administrator: govquery@essex.ac.uk

 

Availability
Yes
Yes
Yes

External examiner

Dr Elena Simona Davidescu
UNIVERSITY OF YORK
SENIOR LECTURER
Resources
Available via Moodle
Of 2 hours, 2 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

 

Further information
Government

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