The Political Ecology of Development

This subject is not offered in 2013.

2 hour seminar each week for 12 weeks, and reading time and assignment preparation totalling 40hrs in the semester.

Admission to a postgraduate coursework program or fourth year honours in development studies, environment, planning, gender and development, resource management, public policy, international politics, geography or anthropology, or permission of the subject coordinator.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The subject provides students with a critical understanding of key environment and development issues, using a political ecology perspective. The subject will help students understand human-environment relationships and key development issues, with cases from developing and developed countries. Political ecologists use a variety of approaches to understand complex human-environment problems, and these are applied to concrete situations. We critically analyze a number of development initiatives that are reconstituting human-environment relationships and, in some cases, promoting new forms of ‘environmental governance’. The range of topics covered does change, and some indicative ones are; supporting rural livelihoods; water management; conservation policy; urban environmental governance; the environmental outcomes of corporate misdeeds; global land grabbing; and environmental movements. Through a seminar presentation, reading, and participation, students will learn how different institutions, and the politics surrounding them, impose constraints upon, and present opportunities for, the promotion of sustainable and equitable development.

• comprehend the political ecology approach and be familiar with the rich literature of political ecology;
• understand the driving forces of human and environmental resource pressures, at different scales;
• demonstrate acquired knowledge in seminar contributions and through an essay;

An essay of 4000 words 80% (due at the end semester), an oral presentation equivalent to 1000 words 10% (during the semester), seminar participation throughout the semester 10%.

Subject readings will be available on the LMS system

Robbins, P. 2012. Political Ecology: a critical introduction. Blackwell. See also the 'Journal of Political Ecology' online.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

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