Programme info
Micro-credential: The political ecology of sustainable development and green policies
- Ƶ load: 4 ECTS credits
- Language of instruction: English
- Location: Stadscampus
- Faculty: Institute of Development Policy
Course content
The first part of the course will pay attention to the broader history, development and underlying paradigms of the co-production of social and ecological change within the context of increasing capitalist expansion, globalization, and under the modernist banner of so-called “progress”. After a general introductory class, setting out and critically assessing the history of human-nature relationships and contradictory notions of “sustainable development” as well as alternative views on “development”, particular attention will be given to climate and biodiversity negotiations and the key mechanisms/policies that have been designed to tackle global climate change and ecological breakdown.
The second part of the course aims to develop a critical and historical appreciation of how politics and power affect global human-nature relations through the use of different lenses and approaches.
The third part of the course will give a broad outline and analysis of the current political economy of global conservation and concomitant environmental policies. Biodiversity, ecosystems and species are generally recognised to be under much pressure the world over but how should we understand the currently dominant responses to mediate these pressures? Very popular, these days, are green economy and market-based approaches to conservation, including carbon markets, payments for ecosystem services (PES), biodiversity derivatives and the like, which makes it crucial to study how the economics and politics of conservation and the environment intersect along racial, gender, class, and social class lines.
A fourth -and more interactive- final part aims to present and discuss alternative transformational views and processes of (re)imagining and (re)enacting alternative social-ecological futures, using examples from all over the world.
Practical information
The course is organised in 12 sessions of 2 hours. The overall course is organised between mid-January and the end of February, spread out over various sessions per week . Attendance in class is mandatory to allow for interaction, debate and group work. All sessions are organised in Antwerp (city campus).
Students of the micro-credential course will participate in the same session as the students of the advanced master programmes in Development Studies of IOB. This group consists of a group of predominantly international students of about 20 students. The sessions will consist of lectures, debates, class discussions and presentations.
Learning outcomes
This micro-credential focuses on the following learning outcomes.
1. The particopant is able to understand key global evolutions and issues in human-nature debates, relating social changes (and notions of “development”) to ecological processes, while understanding the underlying paradigms within a historical context and broader perspective.
2. The participant develops a critical appreciation of how a wide variety of factors, including politics and power are entangled with and produce ecological and social change.
3. The participant is stimulated to understand, analyse, and critically assess a number of key concepts and cases at different scales, and situate them in broader structural power geographies.
Assessment
Division of credits: 4 ECTS divided as follows
- Participation and presentations in class: 30%
- Oral exam with written preparation: 70%
Assessment criteria:
- Knowledge and understanding of content.
- Ability to analyse critically and assess different perspectives.
- Ability to apply concepts to practical examples.
- Ability to present content in a structured and attractive way.
- Ability to build and defend an argument