Dear all,
Way back at the start of our Fall semester, I sent out a query about
doing national case study exercises in GEP-type classes. So, I'm
following up with a quick recap of what we did (with help from
several on this list). The exercise went well, and really engaged the
students. I'm happy to share our materials with anyone who would like
to see them.
In the end, we (the TAs and myself) chose 8 cases (a difficult
choice, based in part on our respective expertises) - China,
Australia (big shout-out to John Howard for scheduling the election
in time to make it into their final papers), India, Brazil, Nigeria,
Japan, Small Island Developing States and War-torn Societies, divided
among the 4 discussion sections of the class (I covered the EU
myself). We allowed the groups to organize themselves, and didn't
impose a tight format on them; they seemed to collaborate well,
sharing resources and findings and were not overburdened by the
logistics of preparing a formal group presentation. Over the course
of the semester, they had to complete three mini-assignments on their
cases, culminating in a final paper in which I got them to analyze
the domestic determinants of environmental problems, politics, policy
outcomes, and two class periods devoted to discussing their findings.
They got to compare cases in two ways - first in section (the China-
India section in particular found this very illuminating) - and
second in class, where I divided them into groups consisting of
representatives from each country group, to teach each other about
the different countries and compare notes. We also spent a session on
more formal "comparative politics" analysis, and a bit more time on
methods and sources. At the end, they were full of useful suggestions
on what else to do next year (e.g. a role playing game simulating
international negotiations) and wanted more class time on the
exercise and longer papers... So, definitely an excercise I'll
repeat. If there was any problem, it was a lack of good recent
secondary sources that the students could trust, so I'll put more
time into that upfront next year.
So thanks to all those who gave me input on this exercise (and to my
TAs for doing a great job organizing the groups! at least two of them
are on this list),
best,
Kate
***************************
Kate O'Neill
Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management
Division of Society and Environment
UC Berkeley
Mail: 207 Giannini Hall, MC 3114, Berkeley CA 94720
Office: 129 Giannini Hall
Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
