Global Environmental Politics

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total of 170 hours

Politics and International Studies at Levels 1 & 2

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/

This subject provides a comprehensive and critical introduction to global environmental politics. It introduces the ethical, political and institutional challenges raised by the global environmental crisis and the key policy and institutional responses. The subject critically explores the environmental treaty system, the role of the United Nations, and the complex relationship between global environmental and economic governance. The role of key non-state actors will also be examined, including the diverse and often competing claims of the modern environment movement and its critics and the changing practices of corporations. Key global debates about sustainable development, environmental justice and ecological security will be explored through a range of topics and case studies, including the idea of the 'ecological footprint' and the problem of over-consumption, the global politics of climate change, the relationship between trade and environment, the precautionary principle and the politics of risk. Questions of gender and ethnicity are explicitly addressed in the syllabus.

On completion of this subject students should:

• Understand and critically compare the competing frameworks for understanding global environmental politics within mainstream international relations theory and the more critical field of global political ecology;

• demonstrate a broad understanding of the diverse ideological character and claims of the modern environment movement and the major lines of political contestation in the broader global environmental debate;

• recognise the major environment and development tensions and debates within the national, international and global communities, particularly the sustainable development debate and the tensions between environmental and economic global governance;

• be able to identify the different ways in which new environmental issues, actors, interests and agendas have challenged the basic norms and institutions of global governance, particularly the system of sovereign states, environmental multilateralism, and the norms and institutions of global economic governance;

• be able to evaluate critically the different global institutional responses to global ecological problems;

• Communicate effectively in oral and written formats.

• An essay of 3000 words (75%) due in the week prior to the non-teaching break.
• A 1-hour take-home exam (25%) due during the examination period.

Hurdle requirement: Students must attend a minimum of 75% of tutorials in order to pass this subject. All pieces of written work must be submitted to pass this subject. Regular participation in tutorials is required.

Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved extension will be penalised at 10% per working day. In-class tasks missed without approval will not be marked.

A subject reader will be available.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Available as a Breadth subject to non-Bachelor of Arts students