GBST 118
Environmental Governance Spring 2025
Division II D Difference, Power, and Equity
Cross-listed ENVI 262

Class Details

Human activities are having an unprecedented impact on our planet. In this course, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to examining how we are governing some of these impacts. We will evaluate the effectiveness and equity of environmental governance processes such as market-based incentives, community-based participatory systems, state regulation, policy strategies, and nature-based ‘solutions.’ Through course materials and student work, we will examine the role of power and politics in governance and their equity effects. Case examples from Global South nations such as climate change impacts on smallholder agriculture, deforestation and degradation, unequal development, poverty and indebtedness, and chemical use in agriculture will help us explore whether their governance has led to satisfactory or unsatisfactory resolutions. By the end of the course, students will be able to answer questions such as: What is governance? What types of governance have led to human well-being and sustainability? How does environmental governance vary around the world? Which actors–state, businesses, communities–have been effective in solving governance problems? The course structure prioritizes understanding of diverse perspectives through group activities, is use-inspired, and is designed to enhance research and communication skills important for environmental careers.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 25
Expected: 25
Class#: 3986
Grading: yes pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: 1. Class engagement; 2. Two short writing assignments, 2-5 pages each; 3. One mid-term take-home exam; 4. One final paper, 5-7 pages; 5. A final group presentation as part of a mini conference put on by the class
Prerequisites: Courses in environmental studies, political economy, global studies, political science, or ecology are recommended, but not required.
Enrollment Preferences: Environmental Studies Majors and Concentrators
Distributions: Divison II Difference, Power, and Equity
Notes: This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
ENVI 262 Division II GBST 118 Division II
DPE Notes: This course examines how power and politics influence environmental governance and its unjust effects on vulnerable people worldwide, especially those living in Global South nations. It guides students through an examination of governance arrangements that have shaped equity outcomes to human-environmental problems. This course thus enables students to understand power comes to be distributed through governance and identifies opportunities to critically engage with environmental practice.
Attributes: ENVI Environmental Policy
EVST Social Science/Policy

Class Grid

Updated 10:12 am

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