My suggestion for a "key topic" would be that, early on in the course, you focus on the widespread assumption that "global" environmental politics is mostly about the problems of cooperating on "commons" (or "common property") issues, such as ozone depletion and climate change. There are actually very few true global commons. The upper atmosphere is one of them, along with the high seas.
Many of the other issues we talk about in these courses, however, are not really commons problems. Rather, they are problems that significantly or mostly fall within national jurisdiction, for which there may or may not be relevant international environmental regimes (eg, MARPOL, transport of hazardous wastes, including e-wastes, etc), regimes which may or may not be effective. The common idea that "commons problems" are the most difficult ones to tackle is, I would argue, not necessarily the case - witness ozone depletion versus (lack of) cooperation on forests (for many states, a quintessentially "national" jurisdiction issue). I think the commons topic is "key" in the sense it both introduces a basic concept/question/debate and in the sense that you can keep coming back to it as you deal with specific issues/cases. Don Munton UNBC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Raul Pacheco-Vega Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009 12:19 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Highly relevant (not-to-be-missed) topics on Global Environmental Politics? Dear all, It's been a while since I have participated in the GEP-ED discussions. Hoping the new semester is treating you well. I am hoping to teach for the very first time (fingers crossed) a Special Topics in International Relations with a focus on Global/International Environmental Politics this January (undergraduate level). I'm trying to design the syllabus in a way that I cover *most* of the highly relevant topics in GEP/IEP. I am hoping to do a cursory review of several international environmental treaties (Rotterdam, Stockholm, Kyoto and the Copenhagen COP 15 rounds). The question that has had me pondering for the past few weeks has been whether there are any *key* topics that I should not miss in a course like this. Climate change seems to have become a predominant topics in the GEP literature, yet my own research interests (hazardous waste, toxics, pollutant release inventories, wastewater) drive me to not want to focus solely on climate change. If you teach a GEP/IEP course, which subject topic would you say is "a must"? Thanks! Raul
