Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3074: The Politics of Climate Change

This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.

Module Aims

This module aims to examine why the issue of climate change is so difficult to address. While being rooted in concepts from political science, it aims to provide 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 it seeks to facilitate student learning around key aspects of climate change governance.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills	1. demonstrate in-depth understanding of the role and perspectives of different actors involved in climate policy 2. show detailed knowledge of the complexities of addressing climate change across different policy sectors and governance scales 3. evaluate critically policy initiatives to tackle climate change
Discipline-Specific Skills	4. think critically, analyse debates and present coherent arguments from a political science perspective 5. evaluate critically the effectiveness of policy 6. demonstrate in-depth understand of the reasons for and barriers to policy intervention
Personal and Key Skills	7. produce high quality written and visual material; 8. evaluate effectively ideas and debates; 9. interact and work with fellow students effectively, and in a cooperative manner; 10. reflect critically on own learning and practice;

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

Challenges of climate change mitigation governance
Challenges of climate adaptation governance
The Political economy of climate change: the role of markets and business
Climate policy instruments
Politicisation of climate science
Climate scepticism
Public understanding and engagement with climate change
International dimensions of climate change – Development, equity and justice
International dimensions of climate change – Human rights and migration politics
International dimensions of climate change – international policy
Climate change and sustainable futures

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
44	256	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activity	44	22 x 2 hour Seminars
Guided Independent Study	118	Reading and seminar preparation
Guided Independent Study	34	Learning diary writing and preparation
Guided Independent Study	4	Role play preparation
Guided Independent Study	20	Poster research and preparation
Guided Independent Study	80	Case study research and writing

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

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.

Basic reading:

Brandstedt, E. and Bergrian, A (2013) Climate Rights: Feasible or not? Environmental Politics. Vol.22, issue 3, pp394-409

Jordan, A., & Huitema, D. (2014). Innovations in climate policy: the politics of invention, diffusion, and evaluation. Environmental Politics, 23(5), 715-734

Hulme, M (2009) Why we disagree about climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Rayner, T .and Okereke, C. (2007) The Politics of Climate Change pp.116-135 in: The Politics of the Environment (ed.) Okereke, C., Routledge, London

Sanderson H, Hildén M, Russel DJ, Penha-Lopes G, Capriolo A (Eds.) (2018) Adapting the Future for Climate Change in Europe, New York: Elsevier.