| CODE | ISD3101 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Environment, Politics and Government Policy | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit will provide students with a solid background about the impacts human activity exerts on the natural environment with particular reference to the Maltese context. It will include an analysis of human impacts on land, water, waste generation and air pollution and will seek to make students understand the dependence of human existence on the environment. The relationship between the environment and economics will then be examined. Further to this, it will examine how the environment is viewed under different political systems. This will include an overview of environmental justice and environmental security and will examine the theories of environmental concern focusing mainly on the resistance and reforms in public policy that the environmental movement brought with it. The role of NGOs within the environmental movement will also be studied. In relation to the above, the politics involved in the setting of international environmental conventions and protocols will be studied. This will include an overview of different international conventions together with a class workshop whereby students will be required to prepare the position of a particular country with regards to a specific environmental issue whose impacts go across country borders e.g. climate change (Kyoto Protocol) and then present and debate it in class in a ‘mimic’ negotiation workshop. This will further consolidate the importance which politics plays in the setting of environment policy. Study-unit Aims: The aim of the study-unit is for students to appreciate the connection between the environment, the economy and society at large and how particular political decisions and understand how the role of environmentalism has influenced various political movements and the policies undertaken. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Define the impacts of human activity on the environment and the different terminology utilised in environmental studies; • Define environmental economics and analyse how the environment is viewed under different political systems and how this affects environmental policy; • Analyse different local and international environmental policies and the role politics has played in the shaping of these policies and their implementation. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Think critically through the analyses of current environmental problems and the evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the policies undertaken; • Report, compare and discuss the importance of particular environmental issues and the politics involved in the position/s taken by different countries. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: • Doyle, T. And Mc Eachern (2008) Environment and Politics. Routledge. • Roberts, J. (2004) Environmental Policy. Routledge. • Connelly, J. (1999) Politics and the environment – from theory to practice. Routledge. • Akhtarkhavari, A. (2010) Global governance of the environment : environmental principles and change in international law. Edward Elgar. • Carter, N. (2001) The politics of the environment – Ideas, Activism, Policy. Cambridge University Press. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Independent Study, Seminar and Workshop | ||||||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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