POLS304-20S2 (C) Semester Two 2020

Environmental Politics and Policy

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 13 July 2020
End Date: Sunday, 8 November 2020
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 24 July 2020
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 25 September 2020

Description

Has green politics come of age? Around the world we are seeing spontaneous community movements challenging four difficult and intersecting issues: dangerous environmental change, growing social inequality, weak democracy and a paradigm of growth that has contributed to resource extraction beyond the capacity of the planet. Against a background of difficult issues including climate change and the impact of colonization, this course examines the roots of environmental thinking and activism and asks- what are the implications of these ideas for how we live as citizens, communities, businesses and nations and how might we plan for just transitions towards a more equitable and sustainable future? The course involves a weekend field trip.

Has green politics come of age? Around the world from Tunisia to New York we’ve seen spontaneous movements challenging four difficult and intersecting sustainability problems: dangerous environmental change, growing social inequality, weakening democracy and a paradigm of growth that has contributed to skyrocketing youth unemployment and resource extraction beyond the capacity of the planet (Jackson, 2009; Hansen 2009; Rockstrom et al 2009, Wilkenson and Pickett, 2009; Hayward 2012).

Learning Outcomes

  • The pedagogy that drives this course is “critical hope and liberation education”, students are encouraged to see themselves as citizens who can effect change, to think about their situation and others’, and to read key texts in more depth, to spark deeper reflection (Friere 1973/2014, Barry 2018).

  • Students are also given the opportunity to apply their reading and reflection to real world case studies, to think about the potential and possibilities for a greener, socially just future. This is not an lecture series, it’s a course I hope raises questions for you over time and I request you come prepared to contribute actively to class, to read and listen to a range of views that may differ significantly from your own –there is no point in studying merely to reinforce our prejudices and views, the purpose of effective, higher education is new, richer insight into collective problems.
  • Students will understand and can critically evaluate green political theory and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to analysis of issues confronting a local NZ community
  • Students will become aware of and understand the nature of bi-culturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand and its relevance to debates about green political development. Introduction to issues influencing development of Māori representation, institutional representation and tikanga in environmental protection and management and policy debate
  • Students will have observed and understood a culture within a community by reflecting on their own performance and experiences within that community.
  • Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions of environmental change on the discipline of political science and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.
    • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

      Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Prerequisites

Any 30 points at 200 level from POLS, or
any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA, or
LAWS, GEOG, or
the Schedule V of the BCom.

Course Coordinator

Bronwyn Hayward

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Final exam 35% Two essay style questions from a choice
Essay 21 Aug 2020 30% 2000 words including references
Field report 13 Oct 2020 35% 2000 words including references

Textbooks / Resources

Course readings and topic by week: the course does not have a set text but you may find it useful to read the text Hayward, B (2012) Children, Citizenship and Environment: Nurturing a Democratic Imagination in a Changing World (Earthscan, Routledge London) (School Strike Edition).

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,757.00

International fee $6,954.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All POLS304 Occurrences

  • POLS304-20S2 (C) Semester Two 2020