STV2250 ¨C International Environmental and Resource Politics

Course content

Why and how do resource use and other human footprints generate international governance challenges - and in what ways does the globalization of the world economy affect such challenges? How important are international institutions for the management of the world's petroleum resources? What is meant by ¡®regime effectiveness¡¯ - and what conditions can explain success or failure in efforts to establish or strengthen international cooperative arrangements on natural resources and the environment? This course offers an introduction to important characteristics of international environmental and resource politics and provides tools for explaining differences in international negotiation processes and their outputs, outcomes and impacts. The roles and significance of international institutions are central, with special attention to processes of formation, change and interplay as well as various conditions that can affect their operation and effectiveness. You gain insight into the roles transnational companies and environmental organizations play in international environmental and resource negotiations and how the positions and influences of main actors such as the USA, the EU and China are affected by domestic political and economic conditions. The course also aims to demonstrate how broader scholarly debates, like those between realists, liberalists and constructivists, can illuminate processes and outcomes in international environmental and resource politics.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

You will:

• get an overview of the structures and the operation of major international environmental and resource regimes, like those for climate, biodiversity and mineral resources, and of how such institutions can influence the behaviour of states and industries
• understand the interactions between global energy markets and national and international framework conditions for the exploitation of fossil resources
• see connections between the design of international regimes, organizations and individual measures and the results that can be expected
• gain insight into the mechanisms that can link environmental degradation and conflict within and among states
• understand the rise of private-public partnerships and market-based management schemes, such as certification in forest and fisheries management
• gain insight into the interplay among international institutions that govern separate issue areas (such as trade and the environment) or levels (such as global and regional)

Skills

You will be able to:

• diagnose various environmental and resource management problems (for example, how difficult are they to solve?)
• evaluate various cooperative arrangements that aim to solve such problems (for example, their effectiveness or legitimacy)
• describe and explain differences among international environmental and resource management regimes in their design, effectiveness and distributional impacts
• prepare an academic text based on a pre-defined or chosen research question, relating that question to the academic literature in the field and to decisions concerning the conceptual framework, research design, and available data
• communicate academic knowledge in writing and orally and provide constructive criticism of other students¡¯ assignments

General competence

You will:

• strengthen your capacities for systematic and critical thinking
• sharpen you ability to critically assess existing analyses and evaluations of policies and institutions beyond environmental and resource management
• improve your academic writing skills

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

This course is not available for single course students.

Recommended previous knowledge

STV1200 ¨C Internasjonal politikk b?r avlegges i forkant.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with STV1214 ¨C Internasjonal milj?- og ressurspolitikk (discontinued).

Teaching

Lectures and seminars

Compulsory acitvities

• Attend the first seminar and minimum two of the following four seminars

• Write and present a term paper draft

• Serve as main discussant on at least one other student¡¯s term paper draft

The seminars are taught in English.

See the seminar guidelines for more information about the seminars.

See the rules for reassignment of seminar groups and the guidelines for compulsory activities.

Absence from compulsory activities

If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed

• Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory activity

A student who has completed compulsory instruction and coursework and has had these approved, is not entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, and does not have to in order to retake the exam. A student who has been admitted to a course, but who has not completed compulsory instruction and coursework or had these approved, is entitled to repeat that instruction and coursework, depending on available capacity.

Examination

3-hour written exam and term paper

• three-hour written exam
• term paper

You must have passed the compulsory activities in order to sit the exam

The term paper must

• have a maximum word limit of 3500 words
• meet the formal requirements for submission of the course paper (see here: Submission of written assignments - Department of Political Science)

One overall grade is given, and both parts of the exam most be completed the same semester.

Previous exams and examination guidelines

Example papers

Examination support material

Students may use dictionaries at this exam. Dictionaries must be handed in before the examination. Please read regulations for dictionaries permitted at the examination.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.