POS306b

Syllabus

POS 306b - Global Environmental Politics

American University in Bulgaria

Spring Semester 2006

INSTRUCTOR

Dr. Marvin S. Soroos

Visiting Balkan Scholar at American University in Bulgaria, spring 2006

Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Public Administration

North Carolina State University, Raleigh North Carolina, USA

Dr. Marvin Soroos is teaching at AUBG during the spring semester as the university's Balkan Scholar. He is currently in phased retirement as a professor of political science and public administration at North Carolina State University, where he has taught a variety of courses on global issues. He has published extensively on international politics and policy, and especially on global environmental problems. A world traveler, he has most recently visited China, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Oman, United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria. In his spare time, he is a landscape painter and a German folkdancer.

COURSE OVERVIEW

POS 306b explores the international politics of the major environmental problems that confront humanity in the 21st century, and international efforts to address them. Topics include population trends, food and hunger, acid rain, thinning of the ozone layer, global climate change, the law of the seas, depletion of ocean fisheries, loss of biological diversity, and regional problems such as pollution of the Danube River and environmental threats to the Black Sea.

The course seeks to address the following larger issues:

1. How serious are international/global environmental problems as we enter the new millennium? Which environmental problems are the most compelling in the short run? Over the long run?

2. In what ways do international/global environmental problems fit the pattern of Garrett Hardin's the "tragedy of the commons"? Can nations be persuaded to restrain the pursuit of their self interest to preserve the global environment?

3. How does the international community go about addressing environmental problems? How is international law created and implemented? What roles are played by international organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental ones?

4. How do economic inequalities between the developed and developing countries complicate efforts to address environmental problems? How do the priorities of these countries differ? Do the people of developing countries have different perspectives on environmental problems What is a fair distribution of responsibility between rich and poor nations for addressing environmental problems?

5. How constructive a role has the United States played in international efforts to address international/global environmental problems? How important is American leadership in these efforts?

6. Is there hope for the global environment over the long run? Are international institutions equal to the challenge of averting a global "tragedy of the commons?"

TEXT BOOK AND READINGS

J. R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World, 2000.

Additional readings are available on-line or on library reserve.

EXAMINATIONS

There will be one mid-term examination and a final examination.

TERM PAPER

Students must submit a term paper of 5-8 (doublespaced) pages on a topic of their choosing. The topic such be an environmental problem or issue that has international legal or political implications. No credit will be given to papers less than 4 pages.

Narrowly defined topics normally work best, such as international efforts to preserve African elephants. Avoid broad topics, such as "world population problems" "combating global climate change," which cannot be handled very adequately in a short paper.

Moreover, the paper should not simply be a rehash of one of the topics in the syllabus that taken up in class and in the readings, such as the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, but it can be a more specific subject that is related to these topics.

A proposed topic should be submitted on Monday, February 20, and an outline by Monday, March 27. The final draft of the paper is due on Monday, April 17.

The paper is to be your work and be written exclusively for this course. Plagiarized papers (including ones purchased over the internet) will receive no credit.

Click here for a more detailed explanation of the term paper assignment and illustrations of topics that will work well for this assignment..

GRADES

Grades for the course will be in A,B,C,D,F with pluses (+) and minuses (-) when appropriate. They will be based approximately as follows: the midterm examination (25%), the final examinations (30%), the term paper (25%), and class attendance and participation (20%). The grade scale will be 97-100 (A+), 93-96 (A), 90-92 (A-), 87-89 (B+), 83-86 (B), 80-82 (B-), 77-79 (C+), 73-76 (C), 70-72 (C-). A grade below 60 is failing.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS

January 16 - Course Introduction

Assigned readings

McNeill: Preface & Ch. 1

January 19 - Historical Landmarks (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

McNeill, chs. 2, 11

Soroos, "Global Institutions and the Environment: An Evolutionary Perspective" ch. 2 in Axelrod et al, The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy, (pages 21-27) (on reserve)

Optional websites

UN Conference on Environment and Development-1992 (collected papers)

IISD Portal on the World Summit for Sustainable Development - 2002

Earth Summit 2002

January 23 - Tragedy of the Commons (Class Game)

Assigned readings

Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162(1968):1243-1248

Herschel Elliott and Richard Lamm, "A Moral Code for a Finite World," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 2002, pp. B7-B9

January 26 - The Problems of Global Commons (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

Soroos, "The Tragedy of the Commons in Global Perspective," in Charles W. Kegley, Jr., and Eugene Wittkopf, eds., The Global Agenda: Issues and Perspectives. 6th edition, Boston, MA: McGraw Hill, 2001, 483-97. (on reserve)

Optional websites

Wikipedia Encyclopedia, "The Tragedy of the Commons"

January 30 - Primer on International Environmental Law (I) (lecture notes for Jan. 30 and Feb 2)

Assigned readings

Mark W. Janus, "Treaties" (article on reserve)

United Nations, Treaty Reference Guide (on line)

Environmental Treaties and Resource Indicators (ENTRI) (browse on line)

Optional websites

Fletcher School Multilaterals Project

February 2 - Primer on International Environmental Law (II)

Assigned readings

Lisa Mastny and Hilary French, "Crimes of (a) Global Nature," Worldwatch, Sept.-Oct 2002, 12-23 (on reserve)

February 6 - International Institutions and the Environment (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

Soroos, "Global Institutions and the Environment: An Evolutionary Perspective" ch. 2 in Axelrod et al, The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy, (pages 27-43) (on reserve)

United Nations Environment Program (browse on line)

United Nations Specialized Agencies (browse on line)

Optional websites

United Nations (UN in Brief)

United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development

World Bank Environment Program

February 9 - Environmental Nongovernmental Organizations (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

Wikipedia Encyclopedia, "Greenpeace" (on line)

"Japanese Whalers, Green Peace in Ocean Battle," Reuters, December 22, 2005

Additional websites

Sarah Mazur, Environmental NGOs: An Information Database

Duke University Library, NGOs: Environmentally Sustainable Development

GreenPeace International

saveourenvironment.org (coalition of 21 environmental NGOs)

February 13 - Global Population Trends (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

McNeill, chapter 9

Population Reference Bureau, 2005 World Population Data Sheet - (review on line)

Population Reference Bureau, "What is Overpopulation" (on line)

Optional websites

50 Largest Metropolitan Areas (2000)

United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN)

United States Census Bureau-International Programs Center

Population Reference Bureau

National Ecological Footprints Ecological Footprint Quiz

February 16 - National Population Problems and Policies (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

Phillip Longman, "The Global Baby Bust," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 3, May/June 2004, pp. 64-79

Optional websites

International Planned Parenthood Federation

United Nations Population Fund

February 20 - United Nations Population Conferences (lecture outline)

Assigned readings

Lincoln C. Chen, et al, "Women, Politics and Global Management: The Cairo Conference," Environment, Vol. 37, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1995, pp. 5-9, 31-33 (on reserve)

Ann Hwang, "Exportable Righteousness, Expendable Women," World Watch, January/February 2002, pp. 24-31 (on reserve)

Optional websites

International Conference on Population and Development

ICPD+5 (United Nations)

ICPD+5 (International Planned Parenthood Federation)

February 23 - Population and Environmental Trends in China

Assigned readings

IIASA, Chinese Population Trends (Animation)

US Dept of Energy, China: Environmental Issues

Optional websites

Wikipedia Encyclopedia, Three Gorges Dam

Environmental NGOs in China