Environmental Politics

The course introduces and provides in-depth study of environmental politics and the problems and opportunities that it and its institutions entail in relation to the handling of environmental threats, as well as basic political science concepts relevant for environmental politics. Theoretical and empirical perspectives on environmental politics are included. The local, national, and international dimensions of environmental problems and environmental work are examined and related to the function of the political system. The course also covers various ideological and institutional obstacles to the implementation of environmental policy change. The course concludes with a methodology component. Students perform a policy analysis of an environmental issue, write a report, and present it orally in an examination seminar. Instruction is in the form of lectures and mandatory seminars, some of which are chaired by the students. All seminars are part of the examination. In the seminars, students are expected to be able to contribute competent analytical comments to discussions, and chair one such discussion.