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Syllabus:

Environmental Governance, 7.5 Credits

Swedish name: Environmental Governance

This syllabus is valid: 2020-01-20 and until further notice

Course code: 2SV037

Credit points: 7.5

Education level: First cycle

Main Field of Study and progress level: Political Science: First cycle, has less than 60 credits in first-cycle course/s as entry requirements

Grading scale: Three-grade scale

Responsible department: Department of Political Science

Revised by: Head of Department of Political Science, 2019-11-20

Contents

Environmental problems and global environmental change are complex, transboundary, multi-level and multi-sector issues, that need to be dealt with at all administrative levels and with an integrated approach across policy areas. By applying theories of governance, we will discuss what this may imply in practice for the policy-making and implementation of environmental politics at different levels. The course introduces key theoretical concepts useful for the understanding of global environmental change as a policy problem, and employs different ideological perspectives for further understanding and analysise of the mechanisms that drives global environmental change and environmental politics. Cases of environmental governance on various levels will be contrasted and compared, together with overlaps between environmental issues and other domains like trade and security. The course will give opportunity to reflect on these cases in relation to central political scientific concepts like democracy, justice, legitimacy and effectiveness.

Expected learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete the course are expected to be able to:

  • Describe and understand the complexity of environmental problems, and drivers of and societal solutions to global environmental change.
  • Describe and understand concepts and theories that are central to the study of environmental governance, including sustainable development, multi-level governance, and the importance of institutions.
  • Employ and argue for different ideological perspectives to explain and propose solutions to global environmental change.
  • Discuss design and implementation of environmental governance on different political levels.
  • Critically discuss issues of power and inequality in relation to environmental governance, with a particular focus on indigenous peoples and gender equality.

Required Knowledge

Univ: 30 ECTS-credits in Political Science or equivalent.

Form of instruction

The course consists of lectures, seminars, and individual literature studies. The aim of the lectures is to support students' learning as a complement to individual studies of the required readings. The seminars include oral presentations and written assignments. They offer the opportunity to further discuss issues and concepts introduced throughout the course. Participation in the seminars is mandatory.

Examination modes

  • Seminars, including oral presentations, active participation in discussions and written assignments. Grades: Fail (U) or Pass (G).
  • Take-home exam (individual). Grades: Fail (U), Pass (G) or Pass with distinction (VG).

General rules regarding examination
A student who does not meet the requirements to pass an examination can, if decided by the course instructor, be given a complementary assignment to reach the requirements to pass the examination. The complementary assignment can be individually modified to the specific requirements that the student has failed to reach, but the assignment must be of corresponding proportion to the original examination.
 
Ordinarily, the complementary assignment is given at the end of the course or when the grades at the original examination is announced. When the student has been given the complementary assignment, he/she should finish the assignment within ten days (not including weekends and holidays). If the student fail to finish the assignment within the required time, a new complementary assignment can only be given the next time the course is arranged, or during the two weeks of re-take exams the Department arranges every year during week 34 and 35.
 
If it is not possible to do complementary assignments (if so, it is stated next to each individual examination above), the student is required to do a re-take exam. The first re-take exam should be given two months after the original examination, at the latest, but no sooner than ten days after the grade on the original examination has been given (not including weekends and holidays). If the examination is given during May or June, the first re-take exam should be given no later than three months after the original examination. Two weeks of re-take exams are also arranged every year, which means complementary assignments are treated during this time independently of when the course was given. These weeks are arranged during week 34 and 35.
 
Students who fail an examination may retake that examination. A student has the right to request a new examiner if he/she fails two sub-course examinations (i.e. an examination and a re-take). In such cases students should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies (Studierektor). Examination in accordance with the same syllabus as during the original examination can be guaranteed for up to two years after the student's first registration.

The appointed examiner may decide to use other forms of examination if required by particular circumstances.

Transfer of Credits
Students who wish to transfer credits from other Departments or universities (Swedish or foreign) should do so in accordance to the Principal's decision "Tillgodoräknandeordning vid Umeå universitet (Dnr. 545-3317-02)".

The application must be submitted in written form. The request should specify which module or course the request applies to. An official transcript should also be submitted. The transcript must include the following information: where and when the course was given, the discipline and level of the course, total course credits and grade received. A syllabus describing the course and a list of required readings should be submitted with the request. Where applicable, written research papers should also be submitted.
 
Upon completion of this course, the credits can be transferred to a selective course. However it is always the responsible Department or program that determines the possibility for credit transfers and the extent of the credit transfer. The student should therefore always contact the responsible Department or program before submitting an application for credit transfers.

Other regulations

A written and anonymous course evaluation is given at the end of the course. During the course an oral evaluation is also arranged, and the student can also anonymously submit thoughts and opinions in digital form.

Literature

  • Valid from: 2024 week 2

    Coolsaet Brendan
    Environmental justice : key issues
    1st : London : Routledge : 2020 : online resource (xxii, 341 sidor) :
    Online access for UMUB
    ISBN: 9780429639166
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue

    Usable environmental knowledge from the perspective of decision-making: the logics of consequentiality, appropriateness, and meaningfulness
    Dewulf Art, Klenk Nicole, Wyborn Carina, Lemos Maria Carmen
    Science Direct : 2020 :
    Artikel online
    Mandatory

    Dobson Andrew
    Environmental politics : a very short introduction
    First edition. : Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press : 2016. : 133 pages :
    ISBN: 978-0-19-966557-0
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue

    Multi-level Environmental Governance: a concept under stress? The International Journal of Justice and Sustainability
    Eckerberg Katarina, Joas Marko
    Taylor & Francis : 2004 :
    Artikel online
    Mandatory

    Institutional interplay in global environmental governance: lessons learned and future research
    Elsässer Joshua Philipp, Hickmann Thomas, Jinnah Sikina, Oberthür Sebastian, Van de Graaf Thijs
    International Environmental Agreements : 2022 :
    Artikel online
    Mandatory

    Epstein Graham
    Institutional fit and the sustainability of social–ecological systems
    Science Direct : 2015 :
    Artikel online
    Mandatory

    Environmental Governance
    Evans James, Thomas Craig
    Routledge : 2023 :
    ISBN
    Mandatory
    Reading instructions: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

  • Valid from: 2020 week 3

    Arora-Jonsson Seema
    Virtue and vulnerability: Discourses on women, gender and climate change
    Included in:
    Global environmental change
    Guildford, Surrey : Butterworth-Heinemann, publ. in cooperation with the United Nations University : 1990- : 21 : pages 744-751 :
    Mandatory

    Paths to a green world : the political economy of the global environment
    Clapp Jennifer, Dauvergne Peter
    2nd ed. : Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press : 2011 : xxiii, 354 p. :
    ISBN: 978-0-262-51582-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue
    Reading instructions: Chapters 1, 8 (2, 3, 4) E-book available via the University Library

    Dobson Andrew
    Environmental politics : a very short introduction
    First edition. : Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press : 2016. : 133 pages :
    ISBN: 978-0-19-966557-0
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue

    Institutional Accountability of Nonstate Actors in the UNFCCC: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty
    Kuyper Jonathan, Bäckstrand Karin, Schroeder Heike
    Included in:
    The review of policy research [electronic resource].
    34 : pages 88-109 :
    Mandatory

    Éloi Laurent
    Issues in environmental justice within the European Union
    Included in:
    Ecological economics
    Amsterdam : Elsevier : 1989- : 70 : pages 1846-1853 :
    Mandatory

    Governing towards sustainability – Conceptualizing Modes of Governance
    Lange Philipp, Driessen Pieter, Sauer Alexandra, Bornemann Basil, Burger Paul
    Included in:
    Journal of environmental policy and planning
    New York, N.Y. : John Wiley & Sons : c1999- : 15 : pages 403-425 :
    Mandatory

    Stephenson Paul
    Twenty years of multi-level governance: Where Does It Come From? What Is It? Where Is It Going?
    Included in:
    Journal of European public policy
    [London] : Routledgec 1997- : 1997- : 20 : pages 817-837 :
    Mandatory

    Vatn Arild
    Environmental governance : institutions, policies and actions
    Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd : cop. 2015 : xv, 444 pages :
    ISBN: 978-1-78100-724-2
    Mandatory
    Search the University Library catalogue

    Young Oran R.
    On environmental governance: Sustainability, efficiency, and equity
    New York: Routledge : 2016 :
    Mandatory

    Young Oran R.
    Constructing diagnostic trees: A stepwise approach to institutional design
    Included in:
    Earth System Governance
    2019- :
    Mandatory