Module POC2117 for 2018/9
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
POC2117: The Politics of Climate Change
This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.
Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.
Module Aims
This module aims to help you examine why the issue of climate change is so difficult to address. While being rooted in concepts from political science, it aims to provide you with a platform through which the climate change problematique can be analysed from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Through a mixture of role play, discussions, seminar presentations and group work your learning will be organised key aspects of climate change governance, namely: politicalisation of science, the political economy of climate change, fairness in international negotiations’ and evaluating climate policy.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
---|---|
Module-Specific Skills | 1. Understand the role and perspectives of different actors involved in climate policy 2. Demonstrate a good level of knowledge about the complexities of addressing climate change across different policy sectors and governance scales 3. Evaluate critically policy initiatives to tackle climate change 4. Identify examples of climate policy good practice and produce a critical evaluation of the lessons that can be drawn 5. Recognise the difficulties in reaching a meaningful global agreement on climate change |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 6. Think critically, analyse debates and present coherent arguments on politics 7. Evaluate the effectiveness of policy 8. Understand in-depth the reasons for and barriers to policy intervention 9. Critically apply theories of political science and international relations to real-life political situations |
Personal and Key Skills | 10. Effectively communicate complex topics in a coherent and well-structured manner 11. Reflect critically on learning outcomes |
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Case study plan | 500 words | 1-3 | Written and oral |
Sample learning diary for the first 3 seminars of the course | 500 words | 1-10, 11 | Written and oral |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
90 | 0 | 10 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Case study | 60 | 2,000 words | 1-10 | Written |
Learning diary | 30 | 1,200 words | 1-10, 11 | Written |
Group presentation as part of role play | 10 | 10 minutes per person | 1-10 | Written and oral |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Case study | 2,000 word case study | 1-10 | August\September reassessment period |
Learning diary | 1,200 word literature review outlining the key governance challenges posed by climate change | 1-10 | August\September reassessment period |
Group presentation as part of role play | 10 minute viva on international climate governance | 1-10 | Term 3 |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Boykoff, M. (Ed) (2010) The Politics of Climate Change: A Survey. Routledge: London.
Brandstedt, E. and Bergrian, A (2013) Climate Rights: Feasible or not? Environmental Politics. Vol.22, issue 3, pp. 394-409
Giddens, A. (2009) The Politics of Climate Change. Polity Press, Cambridge. Pp 1-28
Jordan, A., & Huitema, D. (2014). Innovations in climate policy: the politics of invention, diffusion, and evaluation. Environmental Politics, 23 (5), 715-734
O’Riordan T. (2001) Climate Change. In Timothy O’Riordan (ed) Environmental Science for Environmental Management, pp. 170-185. Pearson Education, Harlow