POSC 245
Comparative Environmental Politics and Policy
Fall 2003
MW: 9:50-11:00
F: 9:40-10:40
Willis 211
Kelly Kollman
Willis 415
646-4449 kkollman@carleton.edu
Office Hours: MW: 3:00-5:00
Th: 10-11, by appt.
Course Objectives:
The study of environmental politics tends to concentrate either on developments within the United States or developments at the international level. Very few courses examine environmental policymaking across different political systems. As growing tensions over international environmental issues illustrate, however, individual societies take very different approaches to defining environmental problems and have different ways of addressing and trying to find solutions to these problems. In this course we will explicitly compare different national approaches to environmental politics and policymaking. In so doing, we will explore the impact of institutions, culture, economic interests and the historic development of national environmental movements on these political processes.
Although we will learn a great deal about specific policies and political processes in different countries, the main objective of the course is help students develop the analytical skills necessary to examine, interpret and hopefully suggest improvements for policymaking processes in different national settings.
Course Requirements:

Two group negotiation position papers (together 20% of your grade)

Take home midterm (30% of your final grade)

Research Paper (40% of your final grade)

Class Participation (10% of your final grade)
Group Negotiation Position Papers:
Students will be required to write group position papers for each of the two in-class simulations of international environmental treaty negotiations we will be conducting during the term. Each group will represent the government of a specific country or a non-governmental organization (NGO) participating in the negotiations. The group will be expected to research their country’s/ group’s position toward the policy area under negotiation and write a 2-3-page position paper. The paper should include background information about how the particular policy problem has been defined in their country, current domestic legislation pertaining to the policy area and which particular societal groups would be affected by this policy area as well as their current positions on the issue. Based on this background information, the paper should lay out a negotiation strategy that includes what outcomes the group hopes to achieve during the negotiations,

what outcomes they would be willing to live with and how they intend to achieve these goals.
Take-home Midterm
The midterm will be a take-home exam. Essay questions based on the materials covered in the course up to and including the section on Transition Countries will be distributed at the end of class on October 24th. Students will have the weekend to answer two analytical essay questions. The exam is due in my office (Willis 415) by 5 pm on
Monday, October 27th. We will not have class on that day to give students extra time to work on their essays.
Research Paper and Presentation
Each student will be required to write a 10-15 page research paper as a cumulative exercise for the course. The paper will compare the reactions of two governments to a specific environmental policy problem and explain why the countries took different approaches to addressing the problem or contrarily why the two governments’ approaches to the problem have become more similar. Students will compare specific policies in one of four different policy areas: pollution control, nature protection, energy policy and food safety / food security. Because, as we will learn during the term, it is often most fruitful to compare what is comparable, students must chose two advanced industrial democracies, two transition countries or two developing countries as comparative case studies. You are encouraged to start work on this paper early in the term. In this spirit, students will be required to submit a topic statement by October 1 st
.
Additionally, each student will present their findings in class as part of a student panel on one of the four policy areas outlined above. The dates of the panel presentations are listed below.
Participation
The course is designed to be a discussion oriented seminar. Although I will do some lectures on core concepts, in-class discussion is an important part of this course. Students are expected to come to class having done the reading and prepared to discuss the day’s material. In addition to participating in regular class discussions, students will be evaluated on their participation in two in-class simulation exercises.
Course Readings
The following required and recommended books are available at the bookstore:
Required
Desai, Ecological Policy and Politics in Developing Countries
Schreurs, Environmental Politics in Japan, Germany and the United States
Shapiro,
Mao’s War Against Nature

Recommended:
Carter, The Politics of the Environment
Additionally, a number of articles and book chapters have been put on reserve at the library. Reserve readings are indicated on the reading list below. The Global
Environment Outlook 3 published by the United Nations Environment Programme has also been placed on reserve to help students with their research and group negotiation papers.

Section I. Environmental Policymaking
9/15 Introduction
9/17 What is Environmental Policy and Why Study It Comparatively?

Diamond, Harpers “The Last Americans: Environmental Collapse and the End of
Civilization” (handout)
 Carter (POE), Chapter 7 “The Environment as a Policy Problem” (handout)
9/19 What is a Policymaking Process?

Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies, Chapters 1, 8, 9 (handout)
9/22 Defining the Problem
 Meadows et al “The Limits to Growth” (handout)

World Commission on Environment and Development,
“Towards Sustainable
Development” (handout)
 Mohamad “Statement to the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development”
(handout)
9/24 The Political Stream: Culture and Social Movements
 Inglehart, “Public Support for Environmental Protection: Objective Problems and
Subjective Values” (on reserve)
 Taylor, “Grassroots Resistance: The Emergence of Popular Environmental
Movements in Less Affluent Countries” (on reserve)
9/26 The Political Stream: Institutions
 Crepaz, “Explaining National Variations of Air Pollution Levels: Political
Institutions and their Impact on Environmental Policy-Making” (on reserve)
9/29 The Political Stream: Economics

Rosentreter, “Oil, Profits and the Question of Alternative Energy” (on reserve)
 Porter and van der Linde “Towards a New Conception of the Environment-
Competitiveness Relationship (on reserve)
Section II. Environmental Policymaking in Advanced Industrial Democracies
10/1 The Rise of a New Policy Field
 Dalton, “The Environmental Movement in Western Europe” (on reserve)

Start Schreurs

RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC STATEMENT DUE
10/3 Explaining Divergent Policy Styles

Schreurs, Chapters 1-3; 4 or 5

10/6 Globalization, Global Civil Society and Possible Convergence?

Schreurs, Chapters 7-8
10/8 Advanced Industrial Democracies and Climate Change Policy
 Film: What’s Up with the Weather
10/10 Simulating EU-US Climate Change Negotiations

FIRST POLICY BRIEFING PAPER DUE

Schreurs, Chapter 6
 Porter, Brown and Chasek, “Global Climate Change” (handout)
Section III. Environmental Policy and Countries in Transition
10/13 Communist Legacy—Russia and China Compared

Shapiro, entire book (chapter 4 optional)
 Darst, “The Internationalization of Environmental Protection in the USSR and
Successor States” pp. 97-113. (on reserve).
10/15 The Communist Legacy cont.

Shapiro
10/17 The Legacy of Two Transitions

Finish Shapiro
10/22 The Legacy of Two Transitions cont.

Darst, finish article
 Smil, “China Shoulders the Cost of Environmental Change” (on reserve)
Section IV. Environmental Policy in Developing Countries
10/24 Defining the Problem in Developing Countries

Desai, Chapter 1
10/27 MIDTERM DUE
10/29 Policy Approaches in Developing Countries

Desai, Chapters 3, 6, 7, 9
10/31 International Influences on Environmental Policy in Developing Countries
 Mofson, “Zimbabwe and CITIES: Illustrating the Reciprocal Relationship between the State and the International Regime” (on reserve).
11/3 Simulating the POPS Treaty: North/South Tensions and the Controversy over DDT

TBA

SECOND POLICY BRIEFING PAPER DUE

Section V. The Policy Stream and Researching Policy Outcomes
11/5 Policy Instruments Used in Environmental Policy

Carter, Chapter 11 (on reserve)
11/7 Comparing the Regulation of Agriculture Biotechnology in the US and the EU
11/10 Research Panel Presentations—Pollution control
11/12 Research Panel Presentations—Nature protection
11/14 Research Panel Presentations—Energy
11/17 Research Panel Presentations—Food safety / Food security
11/19 Summing Up

FINAL RESEARCH PAPER DUE