Time Schedule:
Jason F Lambacher
POL S 384
Seattle Campus
Examines the globalization of environmental problems, including climate change, ozone depletion, and loss of biodiversity, as well as the globalization of political responses to these problems within the framework of globalization as set of interlinked economic, technological, cultural, and political processes. Offered: jointly with ENVIR 384.
Class description
Description: With rapid clarity we have come to discover that many environmental issues do not neatly correspond to political borders. Their causes are often complex and effects are rarely felt evenly. On one hand, these insights help us to understand the new arenas of political conflict that have emerged regarding transboundary pollution, ozone depletion, anthropogenic climate change, deforestation, and the biodiversity crisis. But what makes these problems international, regional, or global in character, and how are they “new”? When do they become political in nature? In what way do their differing impacts raise difficult questions of environmental justice, particularly between the global North and the global South? On the other hand, increasing recognition of ecological interdependence creates pressure for cooperation at international, regional, and global scales. Can existing political institutions effectively respond to such challenges or do new models need to appear? How are non-state actors and networks shaping political, social, and cultural terms of debate? Can ordinary citizens navigate the ethical vicissitudes of “thinking globally and acting locally”? This course will explore the historical emergence and development of global environmental regimes, and their critics, in the context of an increasingly interconnected world. It will focus in particular on the extent to which transborder environmental problems can enhance prospects for peace instead of only providing opportunities for conflict.
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