Taught Sessions

ECPR Summer School – Environmental Politics and Policy

Keele University,  June 17-28th, 2013

TAUGHT SEMINARS

Please note: we have only provided links to pdfs that have been provided by the seminar leaders.  All others should be available via a normal internet search/electronic journals.

 

WEEK ONE

Monday 17th  (PM)

Politics in a closed world

Professor Andrew Dobson, Keele University

The focus of this session will be Political Theory in a Closed World: Reflections on William Ophuls, Liberalism and Abundance. This paper takes as a starting point William Ophul’s claim that the last 450 years amount to an ‘era of exception’ in terms of resource availability. Ophuls suggests that it is no accident that this exceptional era of abundance coincides with the birth and development of liberalism - that liberalism, in other words, would not/could not have occurred without the conditions provided by this era of exception. Some of the ways in which this suggestion might be critically examined are discussed, and attention is drawn to one of its more interesting implications: if liberalism depends on abundance, what kind of political theory do we need if we are entering a new era of scarcity (‘peak oil/peak everything’)?

Preparatory readings

Essential:

Dobson, A. (2013) Political Theory in a Closed World: Reflections on William Ophuls, Liberalism and Abundance. Environmental Values, 22 (2), p.241 - 259. [pdf]

Supplementary:

Any of the articles in Environmental Values, 22 (2).

 

Tuesday 18th (AM)

Environmental activism and social justice

Dr Jenny Pickerill, University of Leicester

This session will explore and define environmental activism. In particular it will examine the diverse groups and people that are often homogenised under this broad term and unpack some of the very different ideologies, motivations, strategies and tactics that are employed by them. By using the specific example of tensions between indigenous and non-indigenous environmental activists in Australia we will explore the tensions between environmental conservation and demands for social justice. This will enable discussions around land rights, resource exploitation, wealth and poverty, in relation to environmental activism. Ultimately this forces us to examine what an 'environmental' activist really is, and how that term is used homogenously without acknowledging what it means to be an 'other' environmental activist.

 

Preparatory readings

Doherty, B. and Doyle, T. (2006) Beyond borders: Transnational politics, social movements and modern environmentalisms. Environmental Politics, 15 (5), p.697 - 712.

Johnson, J., Cant, G., Peters, E., Howitt, R., (2007) Creating anti-colonial geographies: embracing indigenous peoples knowledges and rights. Geographical Research, 45 (2), p.117 – 120.

Pickerill, J. (2009) Finding common ground? Spaces of dialogue and the negotiation of Indigenous interests in environmental campaigns in Australia. Geoforum, 40 (1), p.66 – 79. 

 

Tuesday 18th (PM)

Questions of materiality in environmental politics

Professor John M. Meyer, Humboldt State University/ Rachel Carson Centre-LMU Munich

The role of materiality – that is, a web of life forms (human and non-human), natural formations, technologies, and built environments – in efforts to promote environmental sustainability divides both scholars and activists. The divide, though not always explicit,  is between an account that minimizes the significance of material conditions and practices while privileging vision and values, and an account that reverses this relationship.

The role of materiality is addressed in at least two distinct literatures.  The first is debate about the long-standing account of environmentalism as inspired by “post-materialist values," which is challenged in under-theorized ways by environmental justice movements  (Inglehart 1995; Nordhaus and Shellenberger 2007; Dunlap and York 2008; Sandler and Pezzullo 2006).  The second is the emergence of a “new materialism” among cultural and political theorists, which conceptualizes matter as a subject rather than merely an object of politics (Bennett 2010; Coole and Frost 2010; Krause 2011).   I draw upon an analysis of both to challenge the binary between material problems and postmaterial values, arguing that materiality is always suffused with culture, subjectivity, and values -- and vice versa. 

In this session we will explore these different approaches to the question of materiality, focusing upon their implications for contemporary environmental politics.

Preparatory readings

Essential:

Meyer, John M. (2013) Materiality Contra Postmaterialism in the Politics of Environmentalism.  DRAFT book chapter for ECPR Workshop. [Pdf‌]

Supplementary:

Coole, D. and Frost, S‌. (2010) Introducing the New Materialisms. In: Coole, D. and Frost, S. eds. (2010) New Materialisms: Ontology, Agency, and Politics. 1st ed. Duke University Press, p.1 - 43. [Pdf]

Nordhaus, T. and Shellenberger, M‌. (2007) Break through. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. [For supplementary reading: P.26 – 29] [Pdf]

Guha, R. and Martínez Alier, J‌. (1997) Varieties of environmentalism. London: Earthscan. [Publications For supplementary reading: Introduction, p.xi – xxiii] [Pdf]

‌Latour, B.  (2004) Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern. Critical Inquiry, 30 (2), p.225 - 248. [Pdf]

‌Inglehart, R. (1995) Public Support for Environmental Protection: Objective Problems and Subjective Values in 43 Societies. PS: Political Science and Politics, 28 (1), p.57 - 72. [Pdf]

 

Wednesday 19th (AM)

Interstate politics of climate change: agreements, disagreements and situated actions

Dr Chukwumerije Okereke, University of Reading

The unprecedented challenges posed by climate change within the context of the dynamic and anarchical nature of international politics require that a successful regime of global climate governance must be characterized by innovations that address and temper competing interests and political imperatives. This session highlights the politics that  have characterized the (un) making of the global climate change regime as it sought to respond to and manage these complexities, political imperatives and competing interests. I suggest that the key contestations within climate governance can be understood in terms of questions about national economic interests and North-South distributional justice.

Preparatory readings

Bodansky, D. ‘Prologue to the climate change convention’, in I. Mintzer and J. A. Leonard (eds), Negotiating Climate Change: The Inside Story of the Rio Convention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dasgupta, C. (1994). ‘The Climate Change Negotiations’, in I. Mintzer and J. A. Leonard (eds), Negotiating Climate Change: The Inside Story of the Rio Convention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gupta, Joyeeta (2010). A History of International Climate Change Policy. WIREs Climate Change 1, 636-653.

Najam, Saleemul Huq, and Youba Sokona (2003). Climate Negotiations Beyond Kyoto: Developing Countries Concerns and Interest. Climate Policy 3(3), 221- 231.

Okereke, C. (2009) The Politics of Interstate Climate Negotiations: In The Politics of Climate Change, ed. M. Boykoff. London: Routledge, pp.42-61.

Joseph E. Aldy, Scott Barrett, and Robert N. Stavins (2003). Thirteen Plus One: A Comparison of Global Climate Policy Architectures. Climate Policy 3(4), 373-394.

Hare, William, Claire Stockwell, Christian Flachsland, and Sebastian Oberthür (2010). The Architecture of the Global Climate Regime: A Top-Down Perspective. Climate Policy 10(6), 600-614.

 

Thursday 20th (AM)

Framing and fragmentation in the international politics of climate change

Professor John Vogler, Keele University

This session will examine the political relationship between the various framings of the climate problem and the fragmented international architecture within which solutions are sought.  The UNFCCC, early on, adopted a narrow frame which has persisted despite changes in scientific understanding and the global political economy.  Institutional inertia and  the fragmented mandates of organisations can account, in part, for this path dependency. However, there are also underlying political reasons which may be traced through the difficulties encountered by attempts to develop the security dimensions of climate change at the UN and to incorporate aviation and maritime emissions in the wider regime. There are other framings of the climate problem, notably in relation to population growth, that are simply excluded from serious consideration at the international level.

Preparatory readings

Biermann, F. et.al. , 2009, ‘The Fragmentation of Global Governance Architectures: A Framework for Analysis’, Global Environmental Politics, 9,4: 14-40.

Detraz, N. & Betsill, M., 2009, ‘Climate Change and Environmental Security: For Whom the Discourse Shifts’, International Studies Perspectives, 10: 303-320.

European Commission & External Action Service, 2011, Joint Reflection Paper: Towards a renewed and strengthened EU climate diplomacy’ europa.eu/environment/docs/2011_joint_paper_eu_climate_diplomacy_en.pdf.

 

Friday 21st (AM)

Dismantling public policy? Social and environmental policy in periods of austerity

Professor Andrew Jordan, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia

Policy dismantling is a distinctive form of policy change, which involves the cutting, reduction, diminution or complete removal of existing policies.  The perceived need to dismantle existing policies normally acquires particular poignancy during periods of acute economic austerity. It can be especially productive of political conflict, pitting those who benefit from the status quo against those who, for whatever reason, seek change. However, scholars of public policy have been rather slow to offer a comprehensive account of the precise conditions under which particular aspects of policy are dismantled.  Dismantling does not even merit a mention in most public policy textbooks.  Yet without an account of both expansion and dismantling, our understanding of policy change in general, and the politics surrounding the cutting of existing policies, will remain frustratingly incomplete.  In this session I will seek to offer a more comparative approach to understanding policy dismantling, by looking in greater detail at the dynamics of cutting in two different policy fields: one (social policy) which has been subjected to study before and the other (environmental policy) which has not.  I will examine what motivates politicians to dismantle, the strategies they employ to dismantle and the effects these have on policy and politics.

Preparatory Readings

Green-Pedersen, C. and Haverland, M. (2002) Review Essay: The new politics and scholarship of the welfare state. Journal of European Social Policy , 12 (1), p.43 - 51. [pdf]

Jordon, A., Bauer, M. and Green-Pedersen, . (2013) Policy Dismantling. Journal of European Public Policy , 20 (5), p.795 - 805. [pdf]

 

WEEK TWO

 

Monday 24th  (AM)

President Obama and climate change: problems, policies and politics

Professor Christopher Bailey, Keele University

This session will employ Kingdon’s “streams” model of agenda-setting to explore the successes and failures of President Obama’s efforts to tackle climate change during his first term in office. It will examine the intense contest to frame the issue during the election campaign of 2008 and early years of his administration: showing how Obama attempted to change the discourse of economic harm and scientific uncertainty that had dominated debate about the issue since the late 1990s to a frame that would garner popular and political support. It will look at the choice of policy solutions to the problem of climate change. The range of options available to Obama will be discussed and his preference for particular solutions explained. Finally, the politics of climate change during this period will be analyzed. This will involve looking at public opinion, interest group mobilization, and partisanship in Washington DC.

 

Preparatory readings

Kingdon, John W.,  Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (any edition)

Pralle, Sarah B.  (2009) Agenda-setting and climate change. Environmental Politics, 18 (5), p.781 – 799.

Fletcher, Amy Lynn. (2009) Clearing the air: the contribution of frame anaylsis to understanding climate policy in the United States. Environmental Politics, 18 (5), p.800 – 816.

Bomberg, Elizabeth and Super, Betsy. (2009) The 2008 US presidential election: Obama and the environment, Environmental Politics, 18 (3) p. 424 – 430.

 

Monday 24th (PM)

"I" for illicit: transnational environmental crime and the dark side of IPE and global governance

 Professor Lorraine Elliot, Australian National University/University of Sheffield

Environmental crime - wildlife smuggling, timber trafficking, and the black market in ozone depleting substances and hazardous waste - is an increasingly serious, organized and transnational form of illicit activity. This session explores the scope and reach of TEC (transnational environmental crime) as well as the challenges of researching the 'dark side' of international political economy and global governance. It focuses on illegal trade as a form of enterprise crime pursued through illicit networks and chains of custody. It also canvasses the strengths and weaknesses of a fragmented TEC regime complex and explores innovative efforts to develop transnational policy, law enforcement and operational responses. 

 

Preparatory readings

‌Lorraine Elliott, (2012) 'Fighting transnational environmental crime', Journal of International Affairs, 66(1) (2012): 87-104  [Pdf]

UN Office of Drugs and Crime (2010), The globalization of crime: a transnational organized crime threat assessment (Vienna: UNODC): chapter 7, Environmental resources (pp. 149-69) - available at http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tocta/TOCTA_Report_2010_low_res.pdf

 

Tuesday 25th (AM)

The Dutch Green Left: a red fruit in a green jacket? 

Professor Paul Lucardie, University of Groningen

Whereas most green parties emerged from environmental movements, anti-nuclear protests and 'alternative' political movements which did not define themselves as left or right, the Dutch GreenLeft resulted from a merger of (small but not marginal) leftwing parties: the Communist Party, the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Radical Party (originally a lefwting Catholic group) and the Evangelical People's Party. Critics and a rival green party called it a red fruit in a green jacket. Yet the rival failed to win seats in parliament and has practically disappeared. In terms of ideology and electoral support the GreenLeft has become a normal green party, yet its origins have left their mark on the party organisation, its culture and its position in the Dutch party system. This may be true of other green parties as well, mutatis mutandis of course.  

 

Preparatory readings

None suggested

 

Wednesday 26th (AM)

Democratizing global climate governance

Dr Hayley Stevenson, University of Sheffield

Climate change presents a large, complex, and seemingly intractable set of problems that are unprecedented in their scope and severity. Global climate governance has so far proven unable to craft effective responses to these problems. Concerns about the legitimacy of global climate governance are just as pertinent as concerns about effectiveness. The effects of climate change will widely but unevenly impact people’s lives around the world, but so too will actions for mitigating and adapting to climate change. The institutions responsible for designing and implementing these actions often seem far beyond the influence of potentially affected people. This session will draw on research recently completed by Hayley Stevenson and John S. Dryzek into the challenges and possibilities for democratizing global climate governance. Stevenson and Dryzek have argued that the twin challenges of effectiveness and legitimacy can be resolved within a framework of deliberative democracy. This session will consider what such democratization may look like, with special attention to questions of inclusivity and accountability.

 

Preparatory readings

John S. Dryzek. 2009. Democratization as deliberative capacity building. Comparative Political Studies 42, 1379–1402.

Hayley Stevenson and John S. Dryzek (2012): The legitimacy of multilateral climate governance: a deliberative democratic approach, Critical Policy Studies, 6:1, 1-18.

Karin Bäckstrand. 2008. Accountability of Networked Climate Governance: The Rise of Transnational Climate Partnerships’, Global Environmental Politics, 8(3), 74-102.

 

Thursday 27th  (AM)

The concept of nature

Professor Marcel Wissenburg, Radboud University Nijmegen

In understanding environmental politics, reasons play a crucial role (obviously next to powers, institutional settings, money etc.). They help to explain why interfering with the environment and with ecosystems (two quite different sides of the same coin) is thought (un)necessary, (un)desirable and (un)acceptable. At the heart of all those reasons is the concept of nature: how do different parties, groups, schools of thought, authors really understand nature? Why do they care and what exactly is it they care about? Oddly, in most empirical research and in numerous policy proposals, the concept of nature (or environment or ecology or….) is often taken for granted – with sometimes dire consequences.

This session will be based on two texts; Ecologism and The Concept of Nature in Libertarianism. The focus of this session will be The Concept of Nature in Libertarianism, an article currently under review. It investigates why and how left and right libertarians appreciate nature the way they do, and ends with suggestions for innovation. Libertarianism may be a minor political force, but it has a disproportionate intellectual influence, which makes it worth investigating. There will also be an opportunity for discussion and questions relating to Ecologism, an encyclopedic article for the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems. This text is simply handy – it teaches you the vocabulary of environmental ethics and political thought, in case this is a new field for you.

Preparatory readings

Essential:

The preparatory reading is the 2010 update to the following text; Ecologism, in: Masashi Sekiguchi (ed), UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, Part 6.32: Politics, Oxford: EOLSS Publishers, 2004. See www.eolss.net. [Pdf] 

Wissenburg‌, M. (2013), The Concept of Nature in Libertarianism. Article currently under review. [Pdf]

 

Thursday 27th (PM)

Scarcity and Sustainability in Utopia [Pdf]

Jonathon Porritt