In recent decades there have been many fascinating and immensely important developments in environmental politics that extend beyond the borders of any one country. The first overtly environmental agreements between countries were adopted in the late nineteenth century, but since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Sweden, there has been an explosion of activity. Dozens of international governmental organizations have been created, hundreds of international nongovernmental organizations have emerged, and numerous transnational networks and informal governance regimes have developed concurrently with the globalization of economic and financial systems, communications, and culture. Although a global government is a dubious and unforeseeable prospect, the global system is nevertheless governed. In this course we will attempt a broad overview of global environmental governance processes and institutions among, across, and beyond nation states. REQUIRED READINGS Most of the required readings will come from the following four books: Axelrod, Regina S., Stacy D. VanDeveer, and David Leonard Downie, eds. The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy, Third Edition. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-87289-966-7 Bodansky, Daniel. The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-674-06179-8 Mitchell, Ronald B. International Politics and the Environment. Los Angeles: Sage, 2010. ISBN 978-1-4129-1975-3 Young, Oran R. On Environmental Governance: Sustainability, Efficiency, and Equity. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2013. ISBN 978-1-61205-133--8

COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of the term: The student should be able to demonstrate mastery of basic concepts and theories of international relations and international law and to demonstrate the application of these to understanding environmental policy questions. The student should be able to demonstrate mastery of the concept of governance and to be able to explain current key nongovernmental institutions and processes of earth system governance. The student should be able to describe and analyze basic characteristics of the state, to analyze and evaluate the role of the state in global environmental governance, and to critically assess the prospects for environmental governance of the development of quasi-state institutions and processes. The student should be able to describe and analyze ways that intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and transnational corporations affect global environmental politics. The student should be able to describe basic features of environmental policy development in the international arena and to explain how this development differs from that which occurs within nation states. The student should be able to use a set of arguments from one reading and apply them to analyze critically a different issue or set of arguments. The student should be able to analyze and evaluate an international environmental policy or policy proposal, basing an assessment of merit, worth, or value on sound arguments and evidence. The student should be able to advance a normative position on critical matters of international environmental politics, backing this judgment with sound arguments and evidence. The student should be able to demonstrate the above skills in written essays, in brief analytical remarks, and in extemporaneous online discussions. WORK EXPECTATIONS The University as a whole has adopted a policy that states the work expectation for all UVM classes is, at a minimum, two hours of work outside of the classroom for each hour of class meeting time, or at least 120 hours total (40 in class, 80 outside of the classroom) for a three-credit course. The work expectation for a totally online course then is also at least 120 hours. That means for this course, offered in a six-week term, you should expect to spend at least 20 hours a week in online and offline activities. BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS I view this as a fascinating, exciting, terribly important subject. I will do my best to make learning about it interesting, fun, and rewarding by using a variety of learning exercises. All of these involve you in some mode of active learning, of learning by doing. This is not a class in which you can sit back and watch and memorize, and expect to do well. Learning should be fun, but it isn't just fun--it requires work and discipline.

Blackboard readings journal blog 20% Current event paper 20% Current event blog 10% Discussion board participation 20% Wiki paper 10% Final essay 20%