Dr Tim Forsyth, CON. H805

The course is primarily intended for students taking MSc Development Studies, MSc Development Management, MSc Anthropology and Development, MSc International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies, MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation, MSc Environment and Development, MSc International Relations, MSc International Relations (Research), LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Affairés Internationales, MSc Global Politics, MSc Biomedicine, Bioscience and Society, MSc Public Policy and Administration, MSc Accounting, Organisations and Institutions, MPA International Development, MSc Regulation and MSc Regulation (Research) but, space permitting, is open to all students who wish to take a half-unit in international aspects of global environmental change and politics. Please note that in case of over-subscription to this course priority will be given to students from the Department of International Development and its joint degrees (where their regulations permit). This course is capped at 45 students.

This course is about global environmental change and political responses at the international, national and sub-national level. The course focuses upon the institutions, politics and policy processes of global environmental governance, with a particular focus on dilemmas facing developing countries and the relationships of developed and developing countries. As in the other half-unit course with which this is associated (DV413), a basic question to be examined is that of how the institutions of the 'global system' impose constraints upon, and present opportunities for the promotion of sustainable development at the international, national, and sub-national scales.

The course will contain discussions of the meaning of 'global' in environmental politics; the politics of environmental regimes; the role of the state, business, and non-governmental organizations in international environmental policy; the Global Environment Facility, World Bank and World Trade Organization. The course especially focuses on problems and policies of climate change; trade; biodiversity, forests and conservation. The course will draw upon some elements of International Relations debates, but will also include more general discussions of global environmental governance within development studies and environmental politics.

10 x 1.5-hour lectures, and 9 seminars (each of 1.5 hour duration) during Michaelmas Term.

One 1,500 word essay

Students are encouraged to look at good websites on global environmental governance and negotiations such as www.iisd.org. Some indicative textbooks are: Betsill, M. and Corell, E. (eds) NGO Diplomacy: The Influence of Nongovernmental Organizations in International Enviromental Negotiations, MIT Press, 2007; Biermann, F, Pattberg, P. and Zelli, F. (eds) Global Climate Governance Beyond 2012: Architecture, Agency and Adaptation, Cambridge University Press, 2010; Biermann, F., Siebenhűner, B. and Schreyőgg, A. (eds) International Organizations in Global Environmental Governance, Routledge, 2009; Bulkeley, H. and Newell, P. 2010 Governing Climate Change, London: Routledge; I. Burton, and L. Schipper (eds) The Earthscan Reader on Adaptation to Climate Change, Earthscan, 2008;J Clapp and P Dauverge, Paths to a Greener World: the Political Economy of the Global Environment, MIT Press, 2005; L Elliot, The Global Politics of the Environment, Macmillan, 2004; D. Humphreys Logjam: Deforestation and the Crisis of Global Governance, Earthscan, 2009; S. Jasanoff and M. Long Martello (eds) Earthly politics: local and global in environmental governance, MIT Press, 2004; C. Miller, and P. Edwards (eds) Changing the atmosphere: expert knowledge and environmental governance. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001.

Two-hour examination (80%) in Summer Term. Essay of no more than 2,000 words (excluding references and including notes) (20%) due on the first day of Lent Term.