IR467      Half Unit
Green Political Economy

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

The course explores the political economy of the global environment, that is the ways in which politics and the economy interact to shape environmental outcomes at the national, regional and global level. It examines the main actors and institutions (firms, consumers, activists, states, international organisations) that seek to influence global environmental management and considers their interaction in key economic areas, including international trade, finance, investment and energy. Integrating concepts and ideas from global political economy, international relations and environmental economics, it focuses on critical debates on green growth versus degrowth, the role of environmental markets, the greening of production and consumption, and the role of the state in directing the green economic transition. While the emphasis is on conceptual perspectives and debates, the global challenge of climate change alongside other global environmental threats will feature prominently throughout the course. 

15 hours of seminars and 10 hours of lectures in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

10 lectures and 10 seminars on the following topics: 

• Introduction 
• Growth 
• Markets 
• Production 
• Consumption 
• States 
• Trade  
• Foreign Investment 
• Finance
• Energy

Students will be expected to produce an essay of 1500 words in the WT. The formative essay enables students to engage critically with key readings and receive feedback to support their preparation for the summative e-Exam. 

• Allan, B. B. and J. Nahm (2025). "Strategies of Green Industrial Policy: How States Position Firms in Global Supply Chains." American Political Science Review 119(1): 420-434.  
• Brandi, C. and J.-F. Morin (2023). Trade and the Environment: Drivers and Effects of Environmental Provisions in Trade Agreements, Cambridge University Press.  
• Clapp, J. and P. Dauvergne (2011). Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press.  
• Dotzauer, M., L. Biber-Freudenberger and T. Dietz (2024). "The Rise of Sustainability Provisions in International Investment Agreements." Global Environmental Politics 24(4): 10-36. 
• Falkner, R. (2026). Green Political Economy. Cambridge: Polity (publication expected in early 2026.  
• Fuchs, Doris, et al. (2021). Consumption corridors: Living a good life within sustainable limits. London: Routledge.  
• Kallis, Giorgos. (2018). Degrowth. Newcastle: Agenda Publishing.  
• Kedward, K., D. Gabor and J. Ryan-Collins (2024). "Carrots with (out) sticks: credit policy and the limits of green central banking." Review of International Political Economy: 1-25.  
• Nahm, Jonas. (2021). Collaborative Advantage: Forging Green Industries in the New Global Economy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Newell, P. (2021). Power shift: The global political economy of energy transitions, Cambridge University Press. 
• Newell, Peter, & Paterson, Matthew. (2010). Climate Capitalism: Global Warming and the Transformation of the Global Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Exam (100%), duration: 120 Minutes in the Spring exam period