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DPI-345M: Green Politics and Public Policy in a Global Age
Spring 2015
Instructor: Muriel ROUYER
Tuesdays- Thursdays 10:10- 11:30am
Room: Taubman 135
Draft version
Office: 124 Mt. Auburn - Suite 200N-240
Contact:
Phone: 617-496-0112
Fax: 617-495-4948
Email: [email protected]
Assistant:
Beth Tremblay
Office: Belfer 505
Phone: 617-496-0668
email: [email protected]
Shopping session : Thursday Jan. 22- 10:10-11:25 in room T 275
Module description
Environmental issues have become increasingly significant in democratic politics and are now a central
political issue at the national, inter-national and global levels. This module focuses on the ways that
political systems, particularly democracies (but not only) are adapting to green, global concerns and what
kind of political opportunities they open or not to green politics. What are the specific traits of so-called
green public policies? What is the state of international negotiations about them? What roles can markets
and institutions play? At what scale (individual, local, national, federal, or supranational) are green
policies most effectively executed? What does it take to be a “green citizen” today?
This module will identify the political challenges and dilemmas posed by green policies in mature,
industrial democracies and in certain democratizing polities, discuss the best green policy tools in
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national, sub-national, and international contexts, and focus on the transnational venues of environmental
activism and green policies that have developed recently around the world, with insights from America
and Europe, China and the Global South.
Goals of this module:
This seminar-module is an introduction to contemporary issues of green policy in democratic and
democratizing political systems, from a political perspective. The methodology is mixed and borrows
from political science, sociology, political and democratic theory, as well as political economy. This class
will give you a solid basic knowledge of issues and concepts relating to green governance, and allow you
to make sense of one of the most heated debate about the planet: Climate change. It offers an open forum
to discuss and understand the major political challenges posed by green issues, and will give you an
opportunity to appropriate concepts and stakes through hands-on workshops, participatory class-work,
and personal essays. Ultimately, the goal of this class is to make you a proficient, global green global
citizen better aware of the dilemmas and tensions involved in any green decision-making.
The workload of this seminar is regular and moderate: class participation including hands-on workshops,
and a short written essay on a topic connected to this class and of interest for each of you.
Class-Work:
Each class will be devoted to the discussion of the readings, starting with a focus (10 min. max) on a
specific problem or case study presented by a student/ group (depending on class number of attendees).
The focus will help the class put readings in perspective and develop a discussion on a concrete, defined
and pragmatic basis. Depending on the number of attendees, we may also have in-class group
discussions and exercises/workshops in the module.
The written work for this class consists of two short workshop contributions (1p) and one short final
essay (8 p. Times New Roman 12, 1.5 spaced, 1 inch margin max) relating to one of the topics discussed
in class. It may be one of the focuses, which the student may choose to expand. It may be an aspect of one
class we did not fully develop or a topic of your choosing, in accordance with your instructor.
This short essay is due on March 27, 2015.
Books required:
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Neil Carter, The Politics of the Environment, Cambridge University Press, second edition, 2012
(this book will be on the reserve shelf)
John Urry, Climate Change and Society, Polity Press, 2011 (this book needs to be purchased)
John S. Dryzek, The Politics of the Earth, Oxford University Press, second edition 2005 (2013)
Recommended (to go further or find alternative viewpoints)- These books will be on the reserve
shelf
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James Connelly, Graham Smith, David Benson and Clare Saunders, Politics and the
Environment, Routledge, 3rd edition, 2012
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John S. Dryzek, David Schlosberg, Debating the Earth- The Environmental Reader, Oxford
University Press, 2009
Optional, but worth reading in whole or partially, even before the module starts:
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Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach (1975), Banyan Tree Books, anniversary edition 2004.
This changes everything, by Naomi Klein, Simon & Schuster, Sept. 2014
Weekly schedule
Class #1 – Tuesday, January 27th : Introduction. Green Politics, Green Policy
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Carson, Rachel (1962). Silent spring, introduction by Linda Lear ; afterword by Edward O.
Wilson, Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Introduction, and chapter 2
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Neil Carter, The Politics of the Environment, Cambridge U.P. 2nd edition, 7th printing 2012, chap.
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Video: “The Legacy of Silent Spring”, Harvard conference Spring 2013 (please watch at least the
40 first minutes) : http://environment.harvard.edu/silent-spring
Press article: Top 10 green stories by Brian Walsh, Time Magazine, Dec. 4, 2013
http://science.time.com/2013/12/04/science-and-space/slide/top-10-green-stories/
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Class #2 – Thursday, January 29th : Green public philosophy
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J. Dryzek, “Democracy and Environmental Policy Instruments”, pp. 294-307 in Robyn
Eckerlsey (1995). Markets, the State and the Environment, Macmillan Australia
Robyn Eckersley: “The green Democratic State: Environmental Vision and Democratic
Practice”, 17th Richard Jones Memorial Lecture, University of Tasmania, 2004, pp. 4-9
Robert Paehlke, “Democracy and Environmentalism: Opening a door to the
Administrative State”, in: J. Dryzek and D. Schlosberg, Debating the Earth, Oxford U.P,
2009, chap. 12, pp. 163-179.
Press article: Op-ed by Conn Caroll: “Fracking Revolution Revolutionized American
Energy as Green Energy Failed”, Washington Examiner, April 12, 2013
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http://washingtonexaminer.com/conn-carroll-fracking-revolutionized-american-energyas-green-energy-failed/article/2527040
 Focus: Is liberal democracy compatible with environmental policy?
Class #3 – Tuesday, February 3rd : Green Politics, a Comparative Picture Europe-USA
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Neil Carter (2007), 2nd ed. The politics of the Environment- Ideas, Activism, Policy,
Cambridge U.P., chap. 4
Norman Miller (2009), Environmental politics, Stakeholders and Policymaking,
Routledge, chapter 5
James Connelly et al., Politics and the Environment, Routledge, 3rd edition, 2012, pp.
102-119
 Focus: Select an environmental organization in the readings or in the additional list
and present it to the class
Class #4 –Thursday, February 5th : “Debating the Earth”: the Making of a Global Policy Problem.
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Neil Carter, The Politics of the Environment, op.cit., chap. 9
Paul Wapner, “Politics Beyond the Sate: Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics”,
World Politics (1995), 311-40
John Urry (2011). Climate Change and Society Polity Press, chap. 2
Peter Newell, Globalization and the Environment, Polity Press, 2012, pp. 48-55
Policy documents :
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Understanding COP 20 in Lima, Climate Group, 17 Nov. 2014
http://www.theclimategroup.org/what-we-do/news-and-blogs/understanding-cop20-in-lima/
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Climate Change and Global Poverty, Action Aid! USA Policy Brief by Brandon Wu, 2013
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Nathaniel Keohane, “ Lima Climate Talks: What Really Happened”, 18 December 2014,
Environmental Defense Fund http://blogs.edf.org/climatetalks/2014/12/18/lima-climate-talkswhat-really-happened/?_ga=1.91560154.1518639625.1416340855
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Africa pushes for adaptation at Lima Climate Change Conference, East African Community,
http://www.eac.int/index.php?option=com_content&id=1756:africa-pushes-for-adaptation-as-apriority-at-lima-climate-change-conference&Itemid=194
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Claire Casey, “A Day Late and a degree short”, Foreign Policy, November 13, 2014
http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/11/13/a-day-late-and-a-degree-short/
 Focus- Kyoto: Where do we stand?
Class #5- Tuesday, February 10th : New Global Framings- Sustainable Development and
Cosmopolitan Democracy
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John S. Dryzek, Hayley Stevenson, “Global Democracy and Earth System Governance”,
Ecological Economics, Vol. 70 Issue 11, Sept. 2011, pp. 1865-74.
Ulrich Beck, “Democracy Beyond the Nation-State”, Dissent, Winter 1999, 46 (1), pp.53-55
Daniele Archibugi, “Cosmopolitan Democracy”, in: A. Archibugi (ed), Debating Cosmopolis,
London, Verso, 2003, pp. 7-10
John S. Dryzek, The Politics of the Earth, Oxford U.P., 2nd ed. 2005, chap. 7
Mostafa K. Tolba, Global Environmental Diplomacy, MIT Press, 1998, Prologue (pp. 1-10)
 Focus: Can Green Democracy be Global?
Class #6 – Thursday February 12th : When Science is not Enough: the Importance of Public
Opinion
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Film: D. Guggenheim (2006): An Inconvenient Truth, 118’ and Al-Gore Climate reality
Project’s website http://www.takepart.com/an-inconvenient-truth-hangout
A screening is scheduled prior to class (TBA)
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John Urry (2011), Climate Change and Society, op. cit., chap. 6
David A. Wirth, “Engineering the Climate: Geoengineering as a Challenge to
International Governance”, Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Vol. 40,
Issue 2, 413- 437 (read pp. 413-420)
The Yale Climate communication Project http://environment.yale.edu/climatecommunication/
Sevasti-Eleni Vazirgianidou, “Climate and Energy Policy in the United-States: The battle
of ideas”, Environmental Politics, 2013, Vol. 22 No 4, pp. 593-609
Optional: “Submission to inquiry on ‘Climate: public understanding and policy implications’ by
the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology”, by Bob Ward, Naomi
Hicks, Grantham research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, Policy paper
June 2013 (8.5 p)
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 Focus: How to explain the “framing failure” regarding clean energy in the US and
how to remedy it?
Class #7 – Tuesday February 17th : Green Democracy, individual? The Question of the Green
Citizen
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Kertsy Hobson, “On the making of the environmental citizen”, Environmental Politics 2013,
Vol. 22 No 1, pp.56-72
Climate workshop in Nantes, Green Capital of Europe 2013 click here
Carbon footprint calculators:
 International STUDENT CARBON FOOTPRINT CHALLENGE
http://footprint.stanford.edu/
 My Carbon footprint calculator- Nature.org
http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/?matchtype=b&creative=33211791
470&device=c&network=g&src=sea.AWG.PR0.CP131.AD159.KW11243.MT1.BU132
&gclid=CjwKEAiAlvilBRC5ueCzkpXb4kgSJADxop1BoeORteacSGrgBYUEtFWUMa
GZBhOBvdMhtowFBWWe0xoCEGTw_wcB
 Discussion Focus: How do green citizens “grow”?
 Climate WORKSHOP : Essays in Ego-Climate
Class #8 – Thursday, February, 19th : Green Policy without Democracy? The Case of China
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Ian Johnson, “In the Air”, Letter from Handan, The New Yorker Dec. 2, 2013, pp. 32-37
Kingshyhon Lee and Ming –Sho Ho, “The Maoming Anti-PX Protest of 2014”, China
Perspectives. 2014, Vol. 2014 Issue 3, p33-39.
Lei Xie and Hein-Anton Van der Heijden, “Environmental Movements and Political
Opportunities: The Case of China” , Social Movement Studies, Vol., No1, pp. 51- 68, January
2010.
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Class #9 – Tuesday, February 24th : Green Democracy, Local? Green Cities…
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Video: Benjamin Barber (2013), Why Mayors Should Rule the World, TED.com talk (video, 18’)
http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_barber_why_mayors_should_rule_the_world.html
• K.O. Zimmerman, “From Rio to Rio+20: The changing role of local governments in the context
of global governance”, Local Environment- The International Journal of Justice and
Sustainability, Vol. 17, No 5, May 2012, pp.511-516.
• Robert Paehlke, “Greenville”, Alternatives Journal, 30/5, Nov-Dec. 2004 pp. 12-15
• Tim Beatley (ed) 2012. Green Cities of Europe, Island Press, chap. 4 and Conclusion
Blogs:
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Biophilic cities http://biophiliccities.org/
European Green capitals: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/index_en.htm
 Focus: Copenhagen, a “green city” European style. Explain.
Class #10 –Thursday, February 26th : Ecology and the Market (I)- Policy: Putting a price on
Carbon…Easy?
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Gert Spaargen and Arthur P.J. Mol, “Carbon flows, carbon markets and low-carbon lifestyles;
reflecting on the role of markets in climate governance”, Environmental Politics, 2013, Vol. 22
No1, 174-193
Paul Krugman, building a Green Economy, NYT, April 7, 2010 (read until p. 12)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/magazine/11Economy-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&
Mark Shapiro, Carbon Shock, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014, chap. 8, pp. 129-135 and 178188.
Policy sources:
- Environmental Defense Fund, California cap-and-trade updates
http://www.edf.org/california-cap-and-trade-updates
- Ronald Bayley, “Carbon taxes vs. carbon markets: what’s the best way to limit
emissions?”, The American (online magazine of the American Enterprise Institute),
05/18/2007 http://www.american.com/archive/2007/may-0507/tax-or-trade/
- Carbon Tax Center, Update on Border Tax Adjustments and Competitiveness Issues
(8/2/2013) http://www.carbontax.org/issues/border-adjustments/
- “Durban Declaration” on Carbon Trading (Oct.2004),
http://www.durbanclimatejustice.org/durban-declaration/english.html
- Don Melnick, Mary Pearl and James Warfield, “Make Forests Pay”, NYT 19 January
2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/opinion/a-carbon-offset-market-for-trees.html
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Carbon Market Watch http://carbonmarketwatch.org/category/eu-climate-policy/
 Focus: Are carbon-markets a good policy innovation?
Class #11 –Tuesday March 3rd : Ecology and the Market (II)- Debate: Can Greed be Green?
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Jerry Patchell and Roger Hayter, “How Big Business Can Save the Climate”, Foreign Affairs,
Sept/Oct. 2013, 6 p.
John Dryzek, The Politics of the Earth, op. cit., chap. 8, “Industrial Society and Beyond:
Ecological Modernization”
Naomi Klein, This Changes everything, Simon & Schuster, 2014, pp. 8-26 and chapter 2, “Hot
Money”.
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 Focus: Debate in class- Can Greed be Green?
Class#12- Thursday, March 5th : Is the US losing the Green Race? Reflection on a Federal,
Entrepreneurial Nation
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Norman Miller (2009), Environmental Politics, Stakeholders and Policymaking, Op. cit, chap. 7
John Zysman and Mark Huberty, Can Green Sustain Growth? Stanford Business Books/
Stanford University Press, 2014, chap. 8
Francis Fukuyama, ‘The Decay of American Political Institutions”, The American Interest , Vol.
IX, No 3, December 2013 (excerpt)
Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger (wih a foreword by Peter Teague) “The Death of
Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World’,
http://grist.org/article/doe-reprint/
Press articles:
- N.Y.T., Room for Debate: “Why is the US losing the Green Race?”, Sept.20, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/09/20/why-isnt-the-us-a-leader-in-greentechnology
- John M. Broder, “Cap and Trade loses its Standing as Policy Energy of choice”, N.Y.T.,
March 25, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/science/earth/26climate.html
- Kyle Ash (Greenpeace), “On Climate Treaty, Obama’s Problem is not Legal”,
Huffington Post, 11/18/2013 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kyle-ash/on-climate-treatyobamas-_b_4295416.html
 Focus: Federal vs. State-Level Environmental Action in the US
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Class#13- Tuesday, March 10: Is the EU a “Green Giant”? Reflection on a Transnational,
Multilevel System of Governance
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Alex Warleigh “Greening the European Union for Legitimacy? A cautionary reading of Europe
2020”, Innovation- The European Journal of Social Science Research, Vol. 23, No 4, December
2010, 297-311 (excerpt).
Daniel Kelemen, “Globalizing European Union Environmental Policy”, Journal of European
Public Policy, 17:3, April 2010, pp. 335-349
John Zysman and Mark Huberty (eds). Can Green Sustain Growth? Chap. 7, pp. 107-124.
Blogs and press:
Kaisa Kosonen: “Viewpoint: European Commission wearing Emperor’s new clothes in Davos”,
01/22/2014 http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/worldeconomic-forum/blog/47958/
 Focus : On what elements is the EU’s world green leadership based?
Class# 14- Thursday, March 12th : Green Innovation- Theory and Ideas, Workshop
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Maerten Hajer (2011), The energetic Society. In search of a governance philosophy for a clean
economy, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (excerpt)
John Urry, Climate Change and Society, op. cit., chap. 8
Robyn Eckersley, The Green State, The MIT Press, 2004, conclusion pp. 241-254
Robyn Eckersley, “Representing Nature”, pp. 236-257 (read only from pp. 253-255), in Sonia
Alonso, John Keane and Wolfgang Merkel, The Future of Representative Democracy, Cambridge
U.P. , 2011
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Find inspiration here (blogs and Press):
D-REV http://d-rev.org/about.html and risesolar http://d-rev.org/projects/risesolar.html
Pop Tech Climate resilience Lab http://poptech.org/climate_lab
Recycle Bank https://www.recyclebank.com/
Jan, 20, 2015. NB: The instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus until the beginning of class
(and in some cases after, depending on the number of attendees). Modifications will neither affect the
workload of the students nor the general design of the seminar.
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