| Abstract | This course deals with how and why international problem-solving efforts (cooperation) in environmental politics emerge and evolve, and under what circumstances such efforts are effective. Based on concepts and theories of political economy, political science, and public policy, various examples of international environmental policy-making are examined. |
| Learning objective | The objectives in this course are to (1) gain an overview of important questions pertaining to international environmental politics from a social sciences viewpoint; (2) learn how to identify interesting/innovative questions in this policy area and how to address them in a conceptually and methodologically meaningful and insightful way; (3) gain an overview of important global and regional environmental problems and how they are or could be solved. |
| Content | This course deals with how and why international problem-solving efforts (cooperation) in environmental politics emerge and evolve, and under what circumstances such efforts are effective. Based on concepts and theories of political economy, political science, and public policy, various examples of international environmental policy-making are examined, for example international efforts to reduce air pollution, manage international water resources, mitigate and adapt to global warming, protect the stratospheric ozone layer, address biodiversity challenges, deal with plastic waste, and prevent pollution of the oceans. |
| Lecture notes | Reading materials and slides will be available via Moodle. |
| Literature | Reading materials and slides will be available via Moodle. |
| Prerequisites / Notice | Access / Prerequisites
The course is open to all ETH students and visiting students from other universities. Participation does not require previous coursework in the social sciences or environmental policy. This course will take place on campus (ETH Main Building, HG F.3). There will be no live-streaming, and the course is NOT in hybrid (on-campus plus online) format. However, the lecture will be recorded and the recordings will be made available via the Moodle platform for this course a few days after the respective lecture for students who are unable to attend in person. All electronic correspondence will take place via the ETH mystudies system and Moodle, so please make sure you are properly registered there with a functioning email address/account.
Credits and Exam
After passing a written test at the end of the course (requirement: grade 4.0 or higher) students will receive 3 ECTS credit points. The workload is around 90 hours (meetings, reading assignments, preparation of test). Visiting students (e.g., from the University of Zurich, exchange students) are subject to the same conditions. Registration of visiting students in the web-based system of ETH is compulsory. Students who obtain a grade of < 4.0 for the test will have a second chance (see table below). Students who did not participate in the test on 18 December 2023 will not have access to the repeat test unless they submit compelling and documented (e.g. medical, other exam in parallel at ETH) reasons for why they were unable to participate in the first test. It covers all contents of the lectures and the reading assignments. Visiting students (e.g., from the University of Zurich or other universities) are subject to the same conditions. Registration for the course in the mystudies system of ETH is compulsory. No separate registration for the exam is required, registration for the course as such covers everything. The exam will take place on campus, either in the F3 lecture hall or in a computer room. That is, you must be present in person at ETH Zurich on the exam date/time. |
Competencies | | Subject-specific Competencies | Concepts and Theories | assessed | | Method-specific Competencies | Analytical Competencies | assessed | | Problem-solving | assessed | | Personal Competencies | Creative Thinking | assessed | | Critical Thinking | assessed |
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Performance assessment as a semester course