Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POC2117: The Politics of Climate Change

This module descriptor refers to the 2018/9 academic year.

Please note that this module is only delivered on the Penryn Campus.

Module Aims

This module aims to help you examine why the issue of climate change is so difficult to address. While being rooted in concepts from political science, it aims to provide you with a platform through which the climate change problematique can be analysed from different disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Through a mixture of role play, discussions, seminar presentations and group work your learning will be organised key aspects of climate change governance, namely: politicalisation of science, the political economy of climate change, fairness in international negotiations’ and evaluating climate policy.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Understand the role and perspectives of different actors involved in climate policy
2. Demonstrate a good level of knowledge about the complexities of addressing climate change across different policy sectors and governance scales
3. Evaluate critically policy initiatives to tackle climate change
4. Identify examples of climate policy good practice and produce a critical evaluation of the lessons that can be drawn
5. Recognise the difficulties in reaching a meaningful global agreement on climate change
Discipline-Specific Skills6. Think critically, analyse debates and present coherent arguments on politics
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of policy
8. Understand in-depth the reasons for and barriers to policy intervention
9. Critically apply theories of political science and international relations to real-life political situations
Personal and Key Skills10. Effectively communicate complex topics in a coherent and well-structured manner
11. Reflect critically on learning outcomes