Overview of Course

Environmental issues have become major concerns for relations among states and have challenged their capacities to cooperate to find common solutions. The problems are global but political organization is by nation states. These issues have also engaged many non-state actors such as NGOs and business corporations, the broadcast and social media, and wide segments of the public.
Many inter-governmental organizations and agencies have recently acquired new roles in shaping and implementing environmental policy. Multinational corporations, groups of scientists, and transnational civil society organizations have increased activism and public awareness of growing environmental problems and advocacy for public policy strategies to address them. Environmental issues have become an important part of non-traditional security concerns of American foreign policy and also interact with the corona virus pandemic that has swept the world.

This course will:
(1) analyze major environmental issues, e.g. climate change, renewable energy, waste trade, biodiversity, and impact on public health (including epidemics) worldwide.
(2) study efforts for transnational governance through multinational environmental agreements (MEAs) intended to address these problems.
(3) reflect on theories and trends in international relations in light of the rise of global environmental challenges and the politics in organizing effective measures to deal with them.