Individual Work (35% of grade)
Please write a 1000 word (4 pages, double spaced) policy paper on a given environmental political issue of your choice. Please structure your thesis, as appropriate, around one of the theories we have studied in the course (eg. common pool resource theory, coupled human and natural system theory, framing theory, environmental political process theory – corporatism or pluralism -, etc.).
Appropriate topics may include:
- An analysis of the coupled human and natural system dynamics of a given landscape.
- An analysis of a changing landscape and the human system drivers provoking this change.
- A comparison of the implementation of similar environmental policies in different countries.
- An analysis of a given environmental policy in a single country.
- An analysis of the success or failure of a given environmental organization or movement in one or more countries.
- An in-depth analysis of a particular environmental campaign by an environmental non-governmental organization.
- The implementation or development of a global environmental policy regime (ie. Kyoto Protocol international negotiations, Clean Development Mechanism impacts in one or more countries, etc.)
The policy paper can employ a qualitative or a quantitative approach to the issue depending on the nature of the policy problem analyzed. Both types of analyses are acceptable.
