Introduction to International Environmental Policy

Aims, objectives and learning outcomes
The aim of this module is to develop a foundational understanding of international environmental law, policies, and institutions, the environmental policies of the European Union, and of the historical development of influential attitudes towards and ideas about the environment from ancient times to the present. Emphasis will be placed on contrasting and controversial attitudes/ideas, and students will be encouraged to discuss and debate them.
At the end of this module a successful student should be able to
1. Understand the origins, the position, the logic and key concepts of international law and international environmental law, and the evolution and structure of the international law of sustainable development;
2. Be familiar with the structures and processes of international environmental governance, including the system of international organizations and multilateral environmental agreements;
3. Identify key European Union institutions and environmental policies and laws;
4. Analyze international environmental governance in the context of global governance:;  
5. Identify and suggest policy alternatives and institutional reforms for more effective environmental
governance at the international level
6. Understand key developments in the history of environmental thought from the ancient Greeks to the
present day.
7. Critically analyze the controversies of the philosophical underpinnings of environmentalism and environmental policies.
8. Understand, compare and contrast the different intellectual strands of modern environmentalism, including understanding their historical origins.

 
Supplementary and Reference

Broadhead, L.A.; 2002. International Environmental Politics. The Limits of Green Diplomacy, Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Publishers. Chambers, Bradnee and Jessica Green (eds.); 2005. 

Reforming International Environmental Governance: From Institutional Limits to Innovative Reforms, United Nations University Press.
Conca, Ken and Geoffrey Dabelko (eds.); Green Planet Blues: Environmental Politics from Stockholm to
Johannesburg, Westview Press.
Dolsak, N. & Ostrom, E. (eds); 2003. The Commons in the New Millennium. Challenges and Adaptation,
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Harrison, Neil and Gary Bryner; 2004.  Science and Politics in the International Environment, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.