Module SGIA3851: Environmental Politics

Department: Government and International Affairs

SGIA3851: Environmental Politics

Prerequisites

• Any Level 2 SGIA module

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of the key ideas, institutions, and actors that influence environmental politics across different political systems;
• To enable students to critically analyse and constructively engage with the major concepts, theories, actors, and debates in environmental politics;
• Encourage students to foster a deep understanding of the political dimensions underlying decision-making and outcomes in environmental politics.

Content

• The content may vary from one year to another, but it will indicatively include:
• Ideas and ideologies in green political thought;
• Public opinion and behaviour in environmental politics;
• Environmental movements and activism;
• Green parties and party competition;
• States, regimes, and governments in environmental politics;
• Environmental security and conflict;
• Global environmental governance.

Learning Outcomes

• Through the module students will gain an understanding of:
• Concepts, arguments, and debates in comparative environmental politics;
• The interaction of political ideas, institutions, and actors in shaping environmental governance;
• Theoretical and empirical approaches used to analyse environmental politics in the academic literature.

• Students will also develop some subject specific skills, such as:
• Identify, interpret, and critically engage with the academic literature on comparative environmental politics;
• Analyse and evaluate competing theories and evidence in the literature;
• Construct evidence-based arguments to engage with issues and debates in environmental politics.

• Students will also develop some important key skills, suitable for underpinning study at this and subsequent levels, such as:
• Apply conceptual analysis, critical thinking, and argumentative reasoning to complex issues;
• Communicate evidence-based analysis clearly and effectively;
• Work independently to manage research and writing tasks, integrating and responding constructively to feedback.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Teaching and learning are through a series of one-hour lectures and associated two-hour seminars.
• The lectures provide formal instruction and draw attention to scholarship on environmental politics. The seminars allow students to engage in in-depth exploration of scholarly debates in this scholarship.
• The summative assessment for this module has two components. Firstly, students write a 2,000-word essay that draws upon module content to address predetermined essay questions. Secondly, students write a 3,000-word case study that applies their knowledge and skills to a specific case in environmental politics. They will formulate and answer a focused research question, drawing on relevant theories and empirical evidence.
• The formative assessment is based on a 1,000-word case study proposal. It is peer-reviewed by students, critiquing and providing feedback to each other on their work. This exercise helps students refine their research question, structure, and argument before the summative submission, while developing skills in academic critique, and reflection.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

In the formative assessment, students write a 1,000-word case study proposal, and review a proposal from one of their peers.

■ Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.