Dr Robert Falkner CBG.8.02

This course is available on the BSc in International Relations, BSc in International Relations and Chinese, BSc in International Relations and History and BSc in Politics and International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

There are no prerequisites, though some background knowledge of international political economy, such as that provided in IR206 International Political Economy, will be useful to students taking this course.

An introduction to concepts and issues in the study of global environmental politics, with special emphasis on the political economy of environmental protection. Environmentalism and the greening of international society; ecological perspectives on international political economy; domestic sources of environmental diplomacy; environmental leadership in international negotiations; international environmental regimes and their effectiveness; the role of nonstate actors (business, NGOs); corporate environmentalism; private environmental governance; trade and environment; international environmental aid; greening foreign direct investment; climate change; biosafety regulation; deforestation.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 1 hour of classes in the ST.

Topics:

1. Introduction: The rise of global environmentalism in international politics
2. States and foreign environmental policy
3. Nonstate actors (NGOs and business) in global environmental politics
4. International environmental regimes and regime effectiveness
5. International trade and global environmental protection
6. Global finance, aid and sustainable development
7. Multinational corporations and private environmental governance
8. Climate change: international negotiations and multi-level governance
9. Biosafety: scientific uncertainty and the politics of precaution
10. Deforestation: non-regimes and private governance

Students will be expected to produce 2 essays in the LT.

• Andresen, S., E. L. Boasson and G. Hønneland (2012). International Environmental Agreements: An Introduction. London, Routledge.
• Betsill, M. M., K. Hochstetler and D. Stevis, Eds. (2014). Advances in International Environmental Politics. Basingstoke, Palgrave.
• Biermann, F. and P. Pattberg, Eds. (2012). Global Environmental Governance Reconsidered. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.
• Chasek, P. S. and L. M. Wagner (2012). The Roads from Rio: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Multilateral Environmental Negotiations. New York, RFF Press.
• Clapp, J. and P. Dauvergne (2011). Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.
• Corry, O. and H. Stevenson (2017). IR and the Earth: Societal multiplicity and planetary singularity. Traditions and Trends in Global Environmental Politics, Earthscan Ltd.
• Falkner, R. (2008). Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
• Falkner, R., Ed. (2016). The Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy. Cheltenham, John Wiley & Sons.
• Hoffmann, M. J. (2011). Climate Governance at the Crossroads: Experimenting with a Global Response after Kyoto. New York, Oxford University Press.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the summer exam period.