GV591-6-SP-CO:
International Environmental Politics
2023/24
Government
Colchester Campus
Spring
Undergraduate: Level 6
ReassessmentOnly
Monday 15 January 2024
Friday 22 March 2024
15
16 March 2022
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
This module offers a comprehensive introduction to the understanding of the international politics of environmental problems in a comparative (cross-national as well as sub-national) perspective.
How can the international community effectively address global environmental problems, e.g., the depletion of the ozone layer and climate change? This module offers a comprehensive examination of global environmental politics and facilitates an understanding of how international problem-solving efforts emerge among what kinds of actors, what kind of impact such instruments have, and why state 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 regimes and multilateral agreements. We will examine the underlying theoretical approaches comprehensively, paying particular attention to the design of international environmental regimes, the determinants of states participating in these institutions, and their effectiveness.
An additional drawback with regime governance is that it can lead to piece-meal responses and overlapping institutions with little impact on the overall problems posed to the global system. Building on this general overview, we will contrast the cases of the depletion of the ozone layer and climate change, before concentrating on the consequences of climate change for interstate and intrastate conflict.
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.
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.
On successful completion of the module, students will have:
1. Gained knowledge of the basic issues related to the domestic politics of the environment
2. Gained knowledge of the major political theories regarding the management of environmental resources
3. Understand how many actors are involved in addressing and solving environmental issues and which incentives/strategies they may have to operate as they do.
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 |
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.
Professor T Bohmelt
No
Yes
No
Dr Edward Morgan-Jones
University of Kent
Reader in Comparative Politics
Available via Moodle
Of 22 hours, 22 (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).
Government
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