Dr R Perkins, S413. Other teacher involved: Dr C Palmer; Dr C Marchiori, K102; Dr M Mason, S510.

GY420 is a compulsory course for all MSc Environmental Policy and Regulation students. It is also available to MSc Biomedicine, Bioscience and Society, MSc Environment and Development, MSc Human Geography (Research), MSc Management and Regulation of Risk, MSc Local Economic Development, MSc Development Studies, MPA Public and Economic Policy/MPA Public Policy and Management/MPA International Development/MPA European Public and Economic Policy, MSc Regulation and MSc Regulation (Research) and LSE-Sciences Po Double Degree in Urban Policy students. This course cannot be taken with GY465 Concepts in Environmental Regulation.

This course provides critical insights into the characteristics, processes and evolving dynamics of environmental policy, regulation and governance. In MT, the course considers the rationale for public policy intervention, and the factors that shape the influence of different interest groups over government policy making. It proceeds to examine the nature, design and performance of different policy instruments, together with the various influences governing policy implementation processes. Ranging across different scales of governance, the LT course addresses contemporary themes in environmental policy and regulation, including environmental cooperation, governance beyond the state and the role of science, and dispute resolution.

Ten (one-and-a-half hour) lectures and nine (one-hour) seminars in the MT and ten (one-hour) lectures and nine (one-hour) seminars in the LT.

Students are expected to prepare one formative essay in MT.

While there is no one single text that covers all aspects of the course, you are strongly advised to consult the following:

Core reading, MT: D Fiorino (2006) The New Environmental Regulation, London: MIT Press; J Holder and M Lee (2007) Environmental Protection Law and Policy (2nd edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; S Bell and D McGillivray (2008) Environmental Law (7th edition), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Core reading, LT: N Carter (2007) The Politics of the Environment: Ideas, Activism, Policy (2nd edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; J Connelly & G Smith (2003), Politics and the Environment, Abingdon: Routledge; T Doyle and D McEachern (2008) Environment and Politics (3rd edition), Abingdon: Routledge; M Mason (2005) The New Accountability: Environmental Responsibility Across Borders, London: Earthscan; S Barrett (2005) Environment and Statecraft: The Strategy of Environmental Treaty-Making, Oxford: Oxford University Press; T Sandler (2004) Global Collective Action, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

There is a three-hour formal examination paper. In addition, there is a course essay of 3,000 words maximum, on a topic to be set by the teacher. The course essay will account for 25% of the final marks, the formal examination for 75%.