POL S 527 A: Special Topics in International Relations Research

Course description

Climate change is perhaps the defining challenge of our time. Because it critically affects every aspect of our life, climate governance is complex and contested. There are several ways climate policies can support economic growth and create new opportunities. But climate policies can also create winners and losers and create social conflict. This undergraduate seminar will examine important policy issues in climate governance such as mitigation and adaptation policies, climate migration, climate justice, and climate finance. We will examine how well the existing approaches and institutions are working, and what new initiatives can help us respond to the climate challenge.

Readings

Readings are either uploaded on Canvas or I have provided the article URL.

This is a Device Free Class

Research suggests that the use of electronic devices in class can be distracting for you and for your colleagues. Therefore, to enhance your learning experience, during the class, you are not allowed to use phones, tablets, laptops or any Internet-connectable devices. Please take notes using a pen and a notebook.

Course Expectations

This course requires active student participation. You are expected to energetically and thoughtfully contribute to class discussions in the following ways.

Writing Memos

Article memos

For every session (except when we have guest speakers), students will be assigned an article to present and critique. The discussant-presenter should prepare a two-page (single-spaced) “Article Memo” that summarizes the article, examines its strengths and weaknesses, and identifies questions it raises for future research. The discussant-presenter should budget about 10 minutes for the in-class oral presentation (no PowerPoint). In the course of this quarter, you will probably be assigned to present 2 or 3 articles.

Key questions memo

I expect seminar participants to review all the assigned readings prior to the class.  Based on these readings for a given session, you will write a “Key questions” memo.  In this memo, identify two or three questions or issues that emerge from the assigned readings, along with a rationale as to why these questions are important. Your “Key Questions Memo” should be about one-page (single-spaced).

I have divided the course into three modules with about seven class sessions for every module.  You need to write 2 key question memos (for two different class sessions) from every module (this means, 6 key question memos in total).

Think of Module 1. Suppose you like readings from session 3. After reading the articles assigned for this session, think of two or three overarching questions that you believe emerge from these readings and should be covered during class discussions.

Please note: If you are assigned to present a specific article for session 3 (and therefore write the article memo), you will not write a key question memo for this session.

Research Paper

Identify two countries, cities, or firms and compare how they are responding to climate change (note: you cannot write on the US, Washington state, California, Seattle, King County, and China). Specifically:

• Identify two units you wish to study.
• Briefly explain how they are similar or different (the rationale for comparing them)?

• Specify the policies (mitigation and/or adaptation) you will be comparing.

-        Why are you focusing on these policies; what do you think they might reveal about these units' climate policies?

-        Do you expect the responses of these units will be similar or different? Why?

-        Therefore what? How do you think this study might move forward your understanding of climate policy?

Please write in regular prose and not in bullet points. The one-page outline is due November 1 and a five-page (single-spaced; excluding references and tables) research paper is due December 6. I recommend structuring your paper into sections and subsections. We will also schedule presentations (15 minutes per student) towards the end of the quarter.

Evaluation

In total, you can score 100 points. To convert this into a 4-point scale, I will simply divide it by 25.

Article Memos:                       30 points (10 points per memo * 3 memos)

Key Questions Memos:           30 points (5 points per memo * 6 memos)

Class Participation:                20 points

Research Paper:                     10 points

Research Presentation:           10 points

Total:                                      100 points