Green Political Thought Course Descriptor

Course Overview

This course offers an advanced, rich and diverse exploration of approaches to and theories of green political thought and their historical development. The course invites students to analyse the history of political thought in light of ongoing environmental issues and the challenges that the deepening environmental crisis poses to traditional understandings of politics. Throughout the course, students are led to develop new critical perspectives on the state and on the complex problems addressed in International Relations; and to place sustainability at the heart of normative political theory, with an attention to the ethical implications of political action at an individual, local and international level. Students are invited to think multi-disciplinarily and analyse diverse arguments that draw on environmental history; the history of political thought; green political theory; and theories of international relations (IR) to understand sustainability as both a domestic and international problem and from both an empirical and a normative-driven angle. They will explore ways in which sustainability affects other political concepts and practices, from democracy and cosmopolitanism to regionalism and co-operation. They will think about the intersection between political theory and practice, as well as the methodological implications of doing so. Finally, they will hone the necessary critical, analytical, written, and oral skills with which to engage this timely and exciting field.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings, question prompts, tasks, assignment briefs, discussion boards) to orientate and engage you in your studies.

The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Lectures and seminars

40 scheduled hours – typically including induction, consolidation or revision, and assessment activity hours.

• Version 1:all sessions in the same sized group

OR

• Version 2: most of the sessions in larger groups; some of the sessions in smaller groups

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150 hours

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessments are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

The assessments will require students to apply green political theory to fundamental political concepts and to revisit major theoretical and policy debates in contemporary political theory and International Relations through the arguments of green political thought, ecologism and sustainability whilst developing advanced analytical, written, and oral skills:

Further information about the assessments can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• Dobson, A., Green Political Thought (London: Routledge, 1990).
• Forester, K. and Smith, S. (eds.), Nature, Action, and the Future. Political Thought and the Environment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).
• Latour, B., Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018).
• Vanderheiden, S., Environmental Political Theory (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2020).

Indicative Topics

Note: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

• The environment and nature in the history of political thought.
• Green approaches to and (critiques of) the state, sovereignty, and justice.
• Mainstream and critical responses to the ecological crisis within International Relations.
• Green cosmopolitanism and global citizenship.