GDEV 6320

Environmental Governance

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Considers the question of environmental governance, defined as the assemblage of social institutions that regulate natural resource use and shape environmental outcomes. Participants explore the roles of public policy, market exchange, and collective action in resource (mis)management. Introduces theoretical concepts from a variety of social science perspectives to support case studies and student-led discussions. Comparative analysis of how governance is pursued in different countries, historical periods, and ecological contexts (forestry, endangered species, water quality) highlight scope for institutional innovation. Students taking the course for graduate credit are required to read supplemental materials, undertake more complex research assignments, and participate in seminar discussion section.

Enrollment Information Enrollment limited to: graduate students or permission of instructor.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025FA, 2024FA, 2023FA, 2021FA

Learning Outcomes

• Describe the history and processes of environmental governance.
• Apply terms, concepts, and methods of critical institutional analysis to environmental governance.
• Take positions on classical and contemporary debates animating environmental policy processes.
• Apply knowledge to a specific question, concept, or problem selected for the term paper.
• Demonstrate content-specific oral and communication skills.

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