Political Science 301

Political Science 301

Issues in International Relations

INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

Fall 2006TTh 10:50 to 11:20 amHAL 114

Dr. Samuel S. Stanton, Jr.

Office:HAL 217G

Office Hours: MWF 8 am to 10 am, TTh 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm, by appointment

Phone: 724.458.3854

Email:

“Environmental policy is set apart from other policy areas by a simple but very important fact. Environmental policy has to do with sustaining the ecological basis of life. Other policy areas have to do with the quality of life…”

--Donald T. Well, Environmental Policy

Natural resources exist, but Nature does not. Economic survival is imperative, but the commodity logics driving it need to be grounded in sound ecological common sense lest the limitless dynamism of commodification be permitted to submit everything to exchange logics immediately.

--Timothy Luke, Ecocritique

“There are few, if any, parts of the world that are untouched or unmodified by human activities. We must therefore be careful about imagining that there is, somewhere, a pristine environment, untouched by human hands…Our challenge is to explore the feasibility of a union between “what is” and what could be.”

--Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Global

Environmental Politics, Power, Perspectives, and Practice

Overview: This course is designed to engage students in the realm of possibilities. Why possibilities? Isn’t this course about international issues, and specifically about international environmental issues? Yes, but the environment is about possibilities—what might be viewed against what is in reality. What makes this an issue area is that what really is and what might be are both debatable, and in the case of the environment—hotly or coldly debated.

First we must develop some background, so we will look at what environmental politics and policy are in the international arena. We will look at how science plays a role in the politics of the environment. Then we will look at how environmental issues are different between the UnitedState, the developing world, and the post-Communist countries.

Second, in international politics there are two primary theoretical frameworks by which the world is understood—Structural Realism (what is referred to as realism and neo-realism in the literature) and Liberal Co-Dependency (what is referred to as liberalism and neo-liberalism in the literature). In either theoretical framework the discussion turns to how actors will interact with each other. This is often discussed in terms of regimes. Stephen Krasner defines regimes as “implicit or explicit principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures around which actors expectations converge in a given area,” (1983, 2). The questions are: One, what type of regimes are formed to deal with international environmental issues? Two, are these regimes successful?

Third, we will look at how globalization and reduction of the classical notion of sovereignty are affecting the environment. What is the connection between increased free-market economics and the environment? What happens to local flora and fauna when commerce and travel introduce new species, new pollutants, and other potential hazards? Is there a way to manage these connections and the issues that they create?

Next, are the gloom and doom prognosticators really correct? Are we headed to environmental calamity? Or, are there some reasons to believe that the environment is not really as damaged and fragile and failing as the preponderance of literature on the subject would lead one to believe? Are there scholars who are concerned about the environment and the political issues thereof who do not believe all is gloomy? What is their argument? Here we examine the work of Bjorn Lomborg.

Finally, all international issues eventually end up as discussions of international security. How does the environment enter into this discussion? Is the environment an international security issue—is it even a national security issue? We will examine the nexus of environment and security at the inter- and intra-state levels and see where the environment becomes a security issue.

Course Requirement: This course requires participation, 2 take home essay exams, a final exam, and a course paper.

Participation: You cannot participate if you are not present. I do not expect that every student will be present for every class period. However, I do expect you to be present unless there are mitigating circumstances such as illness and university sanctioned event participation. Participation is more than simply being in the room, participation is discussion, questioning, and answering. Participation is crucial to learning and thus to your grade in this course (see grading). This represents 20% of your grade.

Essay Exams: You will be given a set of questions and one week to answer the questions in type-written essays. The essays will be double-spaced, in a standard 10 or 12 point font, with 1.5” top and 1” bottom margins, 1.5” left margin and 1” right margin. Style and grammar do matter (PAPERS MUST BE DONE IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING STYLES: APA, APSA, or CHICAGO [Turabian]) and will account for 20% of the overall grade of the exam. Generally, I will ask you to answer 3 out of 4 questions, I expect that each question will be thoroughly answered—while I set no limits, I generally expect that a thorough answer will require at least2 or 3 pages. These exams each represent 20% of your grade (40% combined).

Final Exam: A comprehensive essay exam given during the final exam period. Questions are based on questions given in the take home essay exams. This exam is 10% of your grade.

Course Paper: The course paper is a 15-20 page research paper. See the attached guide to writing a research paper for more detail on what is expected of you. The same stylistic requirements exist as required for the essay exams; style and grammar are 30% of the score on this assignment. We will take at least one class period to discuss what is expected in a research paper. You should not put this assignment off until the end of the semester. This paper is 30% of the overall grade in the course.

Grades:

Participation 20%

Exams 50% (2 @ 20% each, 1 @10%)

Course Paper 30%

Grading Scale:

90-100A

80-89B

70-79C

60-69D

Below 60F

I rarely give +/- grades. A +/- grade is give at the discretion of the instructor based on student performance. For instance, a student with an 89.5 grade with poor attendance and without much quality participation will receive a B, same grade would merit a B+ or A- if based on the quality and quantity of quality participation shown throughout the semester. The key to getting bumped up is quality of participation. On the other end of the spectrum, a student with an 80 who had poor participation will earn a B-.

Communication: Every semester events occur which call for changes to the syllabus—usually pertaining to deadlines or dates in the course outline. I will communicate these with you in class. I will also communicate regularly by email—I will create a class email list, so check your email regularly.

Attendance and Behavior: You are adults in an upper division course, however, you cannot participate if you are not in attendance. This course will center on discussion of the literature as a pathway to learning critical thinking skills. Basically, obey the university’s rules on building use and student behavior and everyone will be just fine.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious violation of moral and academic principles. It involves claiming as one’s own original work the ideas, phrasing, or creative work of another person. As such, plagiarism is a direct violation of the biblical commandments against stealing, bearing false witness, and covetousness; thus, the Grove CityCollege policy. We encourage our students to think seriously about the demands of their Christian faith in regards to this issue.

We remind students that plagiarism includes the following:

1)any direct quotation of another’s words, from simple phrasing to longer passages, without using quotation marks and properly citing the source of those words;

2)any summary or paraphrase of another’s ideas without properly citing the source of those ideas;

3)any information that is not common knowledge —including facts, statistics, graphics, drawings—without proper citation of sources;

4)any cutting and pasting of verbal or graphic materials from another source—including books, databases, web sites, journals, newspapers, etc.—without the proper citation for each of the sources of those materials; this includes any copyrighted artwork, graphics, or photography downloaded from the Internet without proper citation;

5)any wholesale “borrowing,” theft, or purchasing of another’s work and presenting it as one’s own, whether from the Internet or from another source;

6)any presentation of “ghost-written” papers—whether paid for or not—as one’s own original work;

7)making one’s work available for copying by others, as well as copying work posted on the Internet or otherwise made available by another.

The above statement is taken from the Grove City College Bulletin and The Crimson. Plagiarism in written work in this course will result in a grade of 0 being assigned to that work. Opportunity to correct and resubmit the work is based on time remaining in the course, nature of the plagiarism (is it simply forgotten or improper citation or is it cutting and pasting entire sections of someone else’s work), and whether or not this is a repeat offense for the individual student.

Texts:

Dalby, Simon. 2002. Environmental Security. Minneapolis, MN: University of

Minneapolis Press.

Dimitrov, Radoslav S. 2006. Science & International Environmental Policy; Regimes

and Nonregimes in Global Governance. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.

French, Hilary. 2000. Vanishing Borders; Protecting the Planet in the Age of

Globalization. New York: W.W. Norton.

Lomborg, Bjorn. 2001. The Skeptical Environmentalist; Measuring the RealState of the

World. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Steel, Brent S., Richard L. Clinton, and Nicholas P. Lovrich, Jr. 2003. Environmental

Politics and Policy; A Comparative Approach. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher education.

Course Outline: This outline is not set in stone and will change as needed.

Aug 29-31Introduction of Course (Syllabi)

Sep 5Environmental Politics, Science and Politics (Steel Chps 1 and 2)

Sep 7Environmental Politics in Postindustrial States (Steel Chp 3)

Sep 12Environmental Politics in US (Steel Chp 4)

Sep 14Environmental Politics in Developing World andPost-CommunistStates

(Steel Chps 5 and 6)

Sep 19The Role of International Law, Emerging Issues (Steel Chps 7 and 8)

Sep 21International Relations and Regimes

Sep 26International Environmental Regimes:Knowledge, Power, Cooperation

(Dimitrov Chps 1, 2 and 7)

Sep 28-Oct 10International Environmental Regimes: Cases (Dimitrov Chps 3 thru 6)

Oct 3Mid-term exam passed out. It will cover material from class and texts through Oct. 10, when the exam is due at the start of class.

Oct 12-17Globalization and the Environment (French Entire Book)

Oct 24Introducing Skeptical Environmentalism (Lomborg Part I)

Oct 26Human Welfare and the Environment (Lomborg Part II)

Oct 31Prosperity? (Lomborg Part III)

Nov 2Pollution (Lomborg Part IV)

Nov 7-14The Problems We Face (Lomborg Part V)

Nov 16State of the World (Lomborg Part VI)

Nov 28International Security? (Dalby Chp 1, Stanton*)

Nov 30-Dec 5Environment and Conflict (Dalby Chp 3, Stanton and St. Marie*)

Dec 5Second Essay Exam passed out, covers material through Dec 5, due in

Dr. Stanton’s office by 5 pm on Dec. 12.

Dec 5Research Papers are due by 4 pm in Dr. Stanton’s Office

Dec 7Shadows, Footprints and Space (Dalby Chp 6)

Dec 12 Why Include Environment in Security Studies (Dalby Chps 8 and 9)

FINAL EXAM AS SCHEDULED

Important Dates:

Aug 29Opening Convocation

Sep 1Last Day to Drop/Add Classes (5 pm deadline)

Sep 4Labor Day, no classes

Oct 16 Mid-Term Grades Due

Oct 19-22Fall Recess

Oct 25Last Day to Withdraw from Class (5 pm deadline)

Nov 18-26Thanksgiving Break

Dec 14Study Day

Dec 15-20Final Exams

GUIDE FOR WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS

A research paper should pose a question about some relevant event or behavior. This question should be easily recognizable and found somewhere in the first page of your paper. Included in the introduction of your paper should be a defense of why anyone should care about finding an answer to your question. You must conduct a literature review that critically evaluates how other scholarship has addressed the general area of your question (or in some cases, how other scholarship has addressed your question specifically). The literature review serves two purposes: One, it allows you to develop a theoretical explanation of how events or behaviors occur. Two, it allows you to determine and explain how your paper adds to our knowledge of the event or behavior (strengthening your argument about why we should care to read your paper).

Your proposed answer to the research question is your hypothesis. The hypothesis suggests factors that contribute to or impede the event or behavior in question. Hypotheses infer something about events or behaviors based on interpretation of some observation(s). What this means is that in political science we are in the business of inferring causation, if you want to simply report what is, take a journalism class. The hypothesis is a testable claim. By using quantitative or qualitative methods, you test the hypothesis for strength and validity. This means specifying how you are measuring and interpreting causal factors. It also means reaching findings (inferences) about whether or not your hypothesis provides a quality answer to the research question.

Research papers end with a conclusion section that ties everything together. What do we learn about the event or behavior from the research you have conducted? What does this tell us about the world and its future?

Research Papers should be organized (based on previous discussion) in the following manner:

--Introduction/Statement of Research Question

--Literature Review (how has previous scholarship addressed your area of interest)

--Theory (what framework, based on previous scholarship, allows you to answer your question)

--Hypothesis (your proposed answer to your question)

--Data and Analysis (the quantitative or qualitative testing of your hypothesis)

--Findings (what did your analysis find regarding your hypothesis)

--Conclusion

Research relies on the evaluation of multiple sources. If you rely on one or two sources for most or all of your research you probably will not have a quality grasp on arguments or the facts these arguments are based upon in the literature. If you fail to properly cite any items you borrow ideas from, directly quote, or paraphrase, you have engaged in plagiarism. Papers that include plagiarism earn an automatic 0. Popular media should generally be avoided as a source of information (although use of sources such as the New York Times, London Times, etc. for specificity of events and statements made by people is acceptable). Textbooks should also generally be avoided as a source of information (if you have a question about whether or not a book is a textbook, just ask your professor). Generally, for a paper of 20 pages in length you would desire about 15 quality sources of information.

Style and grammar do matter. Because grammar matters, proofread!!! Because grammar matters do not use dangling modifiers, end sentences with prepositions, use sentence fragments, etc. Because style matters, look at a style manual and use appropriate citation style (not citing the source of information used in your paper is plagiarism), use appropriate bibliography styles, and always number your pages appropriately. Papers are graded 30% for style and grammar, 70% for content.