Environmental politics and institutions

This course aims at offering a broad understanding of the complex conditions under which societies are to act in order to combat environmental problems, along with an extensive theoretical and methodological deepening to the analysis of the governing of natural resources. During the course, the students become acquainted with the political attempts to cope with several environmental problems, such as those found in the marine environment, water, land-use and biodiversity, and various airborne environmental problems including climate change. The course scrutinizes in what ways actors' environmental behavior is on the one hand explained by factors such as informal institutions, e.g., what values, norms, beliefs and morals the actors are having, and on the other hand formal institutions, i.e., how society is organized, both politically and administratively and how policies can be designed to overcome environmental problems.