Content
In this module, students learn to look at and analyse environmental policy comprehensively. For this purpose, a number of principles of economics in general and, in particular, concepts and methods of environmental and institutional economics are introduced and discussed, which are then applied to environmental policy problems. Topics covered include: Market failures, environmental public goods, "tragedy of the commons", externalities and free-rider behaviour. A particular focus is on the role of institutions for environmental policy and how these need to be designed to contribute to a (just) solution of environmental problems (e. g. design of property rights).
After an understanding of the economic problem has been conveyed, the basics of analytical and comparative political science are introduced. The focus is on policy field analysis and its empirical application to environmental policy. First, the origins and lines of development of the political science subdiscipline are outlined and central theories and methods of the macro, meso and micro levels are presented. Against this background, actors, institutions and instruments that influence the processes of environmental policy decision-making to shape the aforementioned institutions are discussed. Using the policy cycle as a heuristic framework, studies on environmental problems such as global warming, biodiversity loss or deforestation are explained. The growing relevance of non-state actors and gender-specific aspects are also addressed.
Finally, the national environmental policies of individual countries are analysed comparatively on the basis of the knowledge acquired. This includes the general historical and political framework conditions of the countries, the constellation of their economic development and their environmental policy problems. The constellation of actors in policy formulation, the instruments used and the implementation of national policies are taken into account.
