Global Environmental Governance

Global environmental governance (GEG) is an interdisciplinary project oriented course on how the global community addresses, or ought to address, environmental problems and their solutions.  

The course is interdisciplinary in that we take outset in concepts, approaches, and theories from political science, international law, and human geography. We draw mainly on examples from climate change and tropical forestry, but also from other environmental areas. The course is project oriented in that the students in parallel to the classes must write a group based project assignment, which along with the rest of the curriculum and presentations form the basis for individual oral exams. The students can chose from a broad range of topics for their assignments. 

The lectures fall into the following six modules:

1) Introduction to the general field of GEG

2) The emergence of ideas and ideologies about global environmental problems and their solutions.    

3) GEG actors, architecture, and international relations (perspectives mainly from political science and human geography)

4) State-led global regulation, institutions, and regimes (perspectives mainly from international law)

5) Global economic governance, the market, and the environment 

6) The role of non-state actors in GEG

Since the course has different teachers with different schedules, the succession of the modules and lectures may not necessarily follow a straight path from 1) - 6). 

The course includes one or more excursions to national or international organizations located in Copenhagen and knowledgeable about, relevant to, and active in GEG.

Relevance for sustainability: The vision about social, economic, and environmental sustainability underpins all topics, discussions, and assignments in the course. We look at the concept of sustainability as one of the milestones in the development of current ideas and ideologies about global environmental problems and their solutions. Some lectures and assignments may address sustainability or the sustainable development goals as a distinct topic in GEG.

Digitalization: If possible, most lectures will be on-site. Some lectures may be offered digitally and records made available. Some lectures, whether onsite or online, will draw on digital e-learning tools.