George Washington University
PPPA6085.11/PMGT6265.80
Global Environment and Energy Policy
Fall Semester 2012
Thursday evenings, 6:10-8:00 p.m.
Funger 207
Dennis W. Johnson, Ph.D.
202-994-5765
dwjgspm@gwu.edu
This is a graduate level course in comparative public policy, focusing on two major
and interrelated themes: the environment and energy. We will focus on several key
topics: (1) global institutions and policymaking; (2) the depletion of natural
resources and the increasingly aggressive search for their replacement; (3) the
divide between rich, industrialized countries and poor, developing countries, the socalled “north-south” divide; (4) we will spend considerable time reading and
discussing one of the most intractable problems, that of global climate change; (5)
the quest for oil; (6) the challenges associated with fossil fuels, particularly coal, and
the production of electricity; (7) the promise, demise, and resuscitation of nuclear
power; (8) sustainable energy sources—geothermal, wind, solar; (9) we will pay
particular attention to the second largest consumer of energy, China, and its acute
environmental problems; (10) finally, we will look toward future decades to see
what challenges global policymakers will face.
Throughout the course, we will look at a number of problems associated with
individual countries or systems: we will spend considerable time with China, the
European Union, India, and examples from other countries, as well as the United
States.
Research Papers
This course barely covers the surface of this extraordinary area of inquiry. To
supplement our topics, you will have the opportunity to explore global energy and
environmental policy in more detail through two research papers.
First Paper: Who Makes Environmental and Energy Policy? You will pick a country
(other than the U.S.) or the E.U. and research and write about how
environmental/energy policy is made. For example, you might choose Canada as
your country of interest. What are the national government agencies that are
concerned with energy and the environment? What committees in the parliament
are involved? Who are the major non-governmental players (interest groups)? Are
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there special problems or circumstances affecting how Canada tackles these issues?
Ten to twelve pages, counting as 30 percent of your final grade.
Second Paper: What Policies Has Your Country (or the EU) Adopted to Mitigate Global
Warming or to Encourage Renewable Energy Sources? This will require you to look
specifically at the laws passed, policy initiatives of the central (and perhaps local)
government, your country’s participation in international environment or energy
summits (like Kyoto, Rio de Janiero). Twelve to fifteen pages, counting as 30
percent of your final grade.
Both of these papers will require some serious digging into original sources,
particularly government reports, and will require some advanced planning to make
sure that you have chosen a country with enough information and in a language that
you can read!
To assist you in doing the preliminary research, Dr. David Ettinger, Gelman Library’s
expert on public policy, energy and the environment, will conduct an intensive
session on library resources and research guidance. He will also be available for
personal research assistance throughout the semester.
How Your Grade will be Determined
There will be four grades given out during the course:
(1) First Paper: 30 percent of final grade
(2) Second Paper: 30 percent of final grade
(3) Oral Presentation: 10 percent of final grade
(4) Final, take-home examination: 30 percent of final grade
There will be no grade for class discussion or participation—I encourage each of you
to participate as fully as possible. I assume that all of you will attend every class
session (I’ll be there!) and that you will have read the materials for the evening and
are prepared to discuss them. There will be no quizzes.
The Goals for this Course
(a) Understand the interplay between science, technology, politics and public
policy. Through a variety of our readings, we will learn how science and
technology create both opportunities and challenges in the field of
environmental and energy policy.
(b) Understand, through an analysis of comparative public policy, how some
countries and systems are doing a better job of meeting environmental and
energy challenges than others.
(c) Sharpen your research and writing skills. You will conduct serious
graduate level writing. I will demand the highest level of research and
analysis, and you, in turn, will be proud of the final products you turn in.
(d) Sharpen your oral presentation skills. You will present your research
findings to me and your classmates with a 10-minute oral report. This
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will be a formal presentation and you will receive a grade for it.
Academic Integrity:
All members of the university community are expected to exhibit honesty
and competence in their academic work. Students have a special
responsibility to acquaint themselves with, and make use of, all proper
procedures for doing research, writing papers, and taking exams. Members
of the community will be presumed to be familiar with the proper academic
procedures and will be held responsible for applying them. Deliberate
failure to act in accordance with such procedures will be considered
academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty is defined as “cheating of any
kind, including misrepresenting one’s own work, taking credit for the work
of others without crediting them and without appropriate authorization, and
the fabrication of information.” Acts of academic dishonesty are a legal,
moral, and intellectual offense against the community and will be prosecuted
through the proper university channels. The University Code of Academic
Integrity can be found at http://www.gwu.edu/~ntegrity/code.html.
Support for Students with Disabilities:
GW’s Disability Support Services (DSS) provides and coordinates
accommodations and other services for students with a wide variety of
disabilities, as well as those temporarily disabled by injury or illness.
Accommodations are available through DSS to facilitate academic access for
students with disabilities. Additional information is available at
www.gwu.edu/~dss.
Readings:
Please purchase the following books, from either the GW bookstore or online.
Regina Axelrod et al., The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy,
3rd ed. (CQ Press, 2011)-paperback
Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to
China’s Future, 2nd ed. (Cornell, 2010)-paperback
Kathryn Harrison and Lisa Sundstrom, eds., Global Commons, Domestic
Decisions: The Comparative Politics of Climate Change (MIT, 2012)-paperback
Michael Klare, The Race for What’s Left: The Global Scramble for the World’s
Last Resources (Metropolitan, 2012)-hardcover
Daniel Yergin, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern
World (Penguin, 2011)-hardcover
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Online readings: a number of readings can be retrieved online, and are noted in the
syllabus at the appropriate place with this symbol §. You can also download these
readings from our Blackboard site.
* * *
SYLLABUS
Week One: August 28
INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTIONS AND REGIMES
Readings:
Alexrod, VanDeveer and Vig, “Introduction,” 1-23, in Axelrod.
Marvin Soros, “Global Institutions and the Environment,” ch. 2 in Axelrod.
Jacqeline Peel, “Environmental Protection in the Twenty-first Century,” ch. 3
in Axelrod.
Downie, “Global Environmental Policy,” ch. 4 in Axelrod.
Week Two: September 6
ABUNDANT AND DWINDLING RESOURCES
Readings:
§Garrett Hardin, “Tragedy of the Commons,” Science 13 (1968): 1243-48,
http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles_pdf/tragedy_of_the_commons.pdf.
Yergin, Part 2: “Securing the Supply,” chs. 11-16.
Klare, entire book.
§Peter Behr, “Looming Water Crisis,” CQ Researcher (2008),
www.globalresearch.com.
§U.S. Department of Energy/International Energy Agency, International
Energy Outlook 2011,
http://205.254.135.7/forecasts/ieo/pdf/0484(2011).pdf
Your selection of a country (or system) to research is due tonight.
Week Three: September 13
THE “NORTH-SOUTH” DIVIDE
Readings:
Adam Najam, “The View from the South: Developing Countries in Global
Environmental Politics,” ch. 12 in Axelrod.
Ulrich Beyerlin, “Bridging North/South Divide in International
Environmental Law,”
http://www.zaoerv.de/66_2006/66_2006_2_a_259_296.pdf
We will meet at the Gelman Library for a research session with Dr. Ettinger.
Weeks Four, Five and Six: September 20, 27, October 4
COMPARATIVE CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
Readings:
Yergin, “Climate and Carbon,” chs. 21-26.
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Kathryn Harrison and Lisa Sundstrom, “Introduction: Global Commons,
Domestic Decisions” ch. 1 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Miranda Schreurs and Yves Tiberghien, “European Union Leadership and
Climate Change,” ch. 2 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Kathryn Harrison, “The United States as Outlier: Economic and Institutional
Challenges to U.S. Policy,” ch. 3 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Elizabeth DeSombre, “The United States and Global Environmental Politics:
Domestic Sources of U.S. Unilateralism,” ch. 10 in Axelrod.
Laura Henry and Lisa Sundstrom, “Russia and the Kyoto Protocol: From Hot
Air to Implementation?” ch. 4 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Yves Tiberghien and Miranda Schreurs, “Climate Leadership, Japanese Style,”
ch. 5 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Kathryn Harrison, “The Struggle of Ideas and Self-Interest in Canadian
Climate Policy,” ch. 6 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Kate Crowley, “Climate Cleer? Kyoto and Australia’s Decade of Recalcitrance,”
ch. 7 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Gorild Heggelund, Steinar Andresen, and Inga Buan, “Chinese Climate Policy,”
ch. 8 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
Kathryn Harrison and Lisa Sundstrom, “Conclusion: The Comparative Politics
of Climate Change,” ch. 9 in Harrison and Sundstrom.
First Research paper is due at class time, October 4
Week Seven: October 11
THE QUEST FOR OIL
Readings:
Yergin, Chs. 1-8 “The New World of Oil.”
Klare, review chapters on oil.
Week Eight: October 18
THE ELECTRIC AGE
Readings:
Yergin, “The Electric Age,” chs. 17-20.
§International Energy Agency, Electricity in India, available at
http://www.iea.org/work/2006/gb/publications/india_electricity.pdf
Week Nine: October 25
NUCLEAR POWER
Readings:
§Cameco, “How Nuclear Reactors Work,”
http://www.cameco.com/uranium_101/uranium_science/nuclear_reactors/
§Ioannis N. Kessides, “Nuclear Power and Sustainable Energy Policy:
Promises and Perils,” World Bank Research Observer, 2009.
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/44
43/wbro_25_2_323.pdf?sequence=1
§World Nuclear Association, “Fukushima Accident 2011.”
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/fukushima_accident_inf129.html
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Regina Axelrod, “Democracy and Nuclear Power: The Czech Case and the
Global Nuclear Renaissance,” ch. 14 in Axelrod.
§World Nuclear Association, Nuclear Power in France. http://www.worldnuclear.org/info/inf40.html
Week Ten: November 1
NEW ENERGIES—RENEWABLES, WIND, THE SUN, AND CONSERVATION
Readings:
Yergin, “New Energies,” chs. 27-32.
§International Solar Energy Society, Renewable Energy Future for the
Developing World (2003), http://www.ises.org/shortcut.nsf/to/wp
§International Solar Energy Society, Transitioning to Renewable Energy
Future (2003), http://whitepaper.ises.org/ISES-WP-600.pdf
Weeks Eleven and Twelve: November 8, 15
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT IN CHINA
Readings:
Economy, entire book.
Joanna Lewis and Kelly Gallagher, “Energy and Environment in China,” ch 13
in Axelrod.
§Coal Initiative Reports, “Coal in China: Resources, Uses, and Advanced Coal
Technologies,” Pew Center on Global Climate Change (2010)
http://www.pewclimate.org/docUploads/coal-in-china-resourcesuses-technologies.pdf
Yergin, “China’s Rise” and “China in the Fast Lane,” chs. 9, 10.
“The Warriors of Qiugang,” video from Yale University e360.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_warriors_of_qiugang_a_chinese_vill
age_fights_back/2358/
Recommended, but not required:
Judith Shapiro, Mao’s War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in
Revolutionary China (Cambridge, 2011), paperback.
Greg Anderson, “State Capitalism and China’s Auto Industry,” (2012).
http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=2729
Second research paper is due at the beginning of class, November 15.
Week Thirteen: December 29
Oral Presentations
Week Fourteen: December 6
ROAD TO THE FUTURE
Readings:
Yergin, “Road to the Future,” chs. 33-35, and Conclusion.
§ExxonMobil, Outlook for Energy to 2030,
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/Files/news_pub_eo2012.pdf
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§Shell Oil Company, Shell Energy Scenarios to 2030, http://wwwstatic.shell.com/static/public/downloads/brochures/corporate_pkg/scenarios/shel
l_energy_scenarios_2050.pdf