GV591-6-AU-CO:
Comparative Environmental Politics
2023/24
Government
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 05 October 2023
Friday 15 December 2023
15
15 March 2022
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
This module offers a comprehensive introduction to the understanding of the domestic politics of environmental problems in a comparative (cross-national as well as sub-national) perspective.
The module begins by examining domestic views on the state of the environment and possible paths along which these views might change. We then move on to consider environmental politics at various levels of political behaviour and organisation, starting with individual-level values, before moving up the organized politics of the environmental movement, interest groups, political parties, governmental institutions and courts.
At each level we consider what drives approaches to the environment and what the consequences of those approaches are for political organisation and action.
1. To provide students with the necessary analytical foundations to conduct theoretical and empirical comparative research on the environment.
2. To engage with a wide range of applied material relating to comparative environmental politics.
3. To generate ideas and design a study that engages with contemporary environmental issues in a theoretically sound and empirically aware perspective.
Students will learn how political scientists tackle questions such as: `when do businesses and social movements support environmental policy?` and `why are some government more `green` than others?`. They will also learn how to use empirical evidence to test major political theories of environmental politics.
No additional information available.
The module will be taught as a weekly two-hour seminar. Students are expected to read for all classes.
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Carter, N. (2018e)
The politics of the environment: ideas, activism, policy. Third edition. New York: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/349310.
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Harrison, K. and Sundstrom, L.M. (2010a)
Global commons, domestic decisions: the comparative politics of climate change. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctt5hhgtd.
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Carter, N. (2007d)
The politics of the environment: ideas, activism, policy. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=194298.
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Garrett Hardin (3859) ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’,
Science, 162, pp. 1243–1248. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1724745.
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Harrison, K. and Sundstrom, L.M. (2010b)
Global commons, domestic decisions: the comparative politics of climate change. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/j.ctt5hhgtd.
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Walley, NoahWhitehead, Bradley (no date) ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’,
Harvard Business Review, 72(3), pp. 46–51. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=9406231651&site=ehost-live.
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Stavins, R. and Whitehead, B. (2005) ‘Market-Based Environmental Policies’, in Debating the earth: the environmental politics reader. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Goodin, R. (2005) ‘Selling Environmental Indulgences’, in Debating the earth: the environmental politics reader. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Hawken, P., Lovins, A. and Lovins, L.H. (2005) ‘The Next Industrial Revolution’, in Debating the earth: the environmental politics reader. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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O’Riordan, T. and Jordan, A. (1995) ‘The Precautionary Principle in Contemporary Environmental Politics’,
Environmental Values, 4(3). Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30301451.
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Aldy, J.E., Kotchen, M.J. and Leiserowitz, A.A. (2012) ‘Willingness to pay and political support for a US national clean energy standard’,
Nature Climate Change, 2(8), pp. 596–599. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1527.
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Bechtel, M.M. and Scheve, K.F. (2013) ‘Mass support for global climate agreements depends on institutional design’,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(34), pp. 13763–13768. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/42712999.
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So Young Kim and Yael Wolinsky-Nahmias (2014) ‘Cross-National Public Opinion on Climate Change: The Effects of Affluence and Vulnerability’,
Global Environmental Politics, 14(1), pp. 79–106. Available at:
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/537049.
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Szakonyi, D. and Urpelainen, J. (2014) ‘Who Benefits From Economic Reform? Firms and Distributive Politics’,
The Journal of Politics, 76(3), pp. 841–858. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381614000061.
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Deborah Rigling-Gallagher and Erika Weinthal (2012) ‘Business-State Relations and the Environment: The Evolving Role of Corporate Responsibility’, in
Comparative environmental politics: theory, practice, prospects. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 143–170. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3339399.
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Vogel, D. (2008) ‘Private Global Business Regulation’,
Annual Review of Political Science, 11(1), pp. 261–282. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.11.053106.141706.
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Herbert P. Kitschelt (1986) ‘Political Opportunity Structures and Political Protest: Anti-Nuclear Movements in Four Democracies’,
British Journal of Political Science, 16(1), pp. 57–85. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/193981.
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Gullberg, A.T. (2008) ‘Lobbying friends and foes in climate policy: The case of business and environmental interest groups in the European Union’,
Energy Policy, 36(8), pp. 2964–2972. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.04.016.
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David Schlosberg and David Carruthers (2010) ‘Indigenous Struggles, Environmental Justice, and Community Capabilities’,
Global Environmental Politics, 10(4), pp. 12–35. Available at:
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/404381.
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Neumayer, E. (2003) ‘Are left-wing party strength and corporatism good for the environment? Evidence from panel analysis of air pollution in OECD countries’,
Ecological Economics, 45(2), pp. 203–220. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-8009(03)00012-0.
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Spoon, J.-J., Hobolt, S.B. and de Vries, C.E. (2014) ‘Going green: Explaining issue competition on the environment’,
European Journal of Political Research, 53(2), pp. 363–380. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12032.
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Jensen, C.B. and Spoon, J.-J. (2011) ‘Testing the ‘Party Matters’ Thesis: Explaining Progress Towards Kyoto Protocol Targets’,
Political Studies, 59(1), pp. 99–115. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2010.00852.x.
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Bernauer, T. and Koubi, V. (2009) ‘Effects of political institutions on air quality’,
Ecological Economics, 68(5), pp. 1355–1365. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2008.09.003.
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John A. List and Daniel M. Sturm (2006) ‘How Elections Matter: Theory and Evidence from Environmental Policy’,
The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(4), pp. 1249–1281. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25098826.
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 |
Essay 1 |
|
32.5% |
| Coursework |
Essay 2 |
|
32.5% |
| Coursework |
Presentation |
|
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
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Federica Genovese, email: fgenov@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Genovese
Module Administrator: Edmund Walker, govquery@essex.ac.uk
No
Yes
No
Dr Edward Morgan-Jones
University of Kent
Reader in Comparative Politics
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (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.
Government
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