This document provides a complete summary lectures 18-21 of the core module International relations. It includes all readings and lecture content for the fourth IR quiz.
Lecture 18: Environmental politics 2
Newell and Paterson 1998: A climate for business 9
Irwin 2019: Climate change’s giant impact on the economy 13
Lecture 19: Covid-19 in International Relations 15
Oldekop et al 2020: COVID-19 and the case for global development 22
Gostin et al 2020: Reimagining Global Health Governance in the Age of COVID-19 25
Lecture 20: Migration 27
Burgoon 2014: Immigration, Integration, and Support for Redistribution in Europe 34
Porter and Russell 2018: Migrants Are on the Rise Around the World, and Myths About
Them Are Shaping Attitudes 38
Lecture 21: Transnational human rights regimes 47
Ruggie 2014: Global governance and “new governance theory” 56
,Lecture 18: Environmental politics
Global environmental politics
● Existing perspectives on IR of the environment, and how these inform our
understanding of environmental politics and particular policy proposals
○ Offering 4 perspectives
● New trend: The case for green theory (5th perspective)
Understanding global environmental politics: through conventional IR theories?
● To some degree, but…
● Additional factors enter the mix
○ Degree of urgency given to problem of environmental change
○ Understanding of relationship between nature and humans as well as politics and
planet
● Has since the 1980s led to 4 different perspectives on IR of the environment, informing
different ideas about…
○ DIAGNOSIS of environmental change as a problem
○ CAUSE of environmental change
○ SOLUTIONS for environmental change
● And a recent, post 2015, more radical plea for green theory
The environment in IR
● Origins of environmentalism:
○ Romanticism of 18th century → looking at the aesthetic value of nature
■ Highlighting the cold and dark aesthetic of industrialism and focusing on
the beauty of nature instead
○ Theory of evolution → science looking at the evolution of nature
■ Turning out attention to look at how nature is a significant part of who we
are
○ Conservation movement → preserving wildlife and habitats
● Expansion of scientific agenda in early 20th century
○ Science of ecology → more holistically integrated approach to understanding
nature
○ Focus on ecosystems → looking at our surroundings as a system
● On international agenda since 1970s
○ More scientific knowledge about environmental problems
○ Civil society organizations
○ Green parties
, ● Late 20th century
○ Mainstreaming of environmental issues in IR and beyond
Question: CAN MARKETS ADVANCE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BEHAVIOR ACROSS THE
PLANET?
Market Liberals
Inspiration Neo classical economics → human as rational, looking at marginal
utility etc.
Diagnosis Environmental change is a problem, but it can be solved →
degree of urgency is medium
Cause Market imperfections are the basis of environmental problems
Solution Creating new effective markets; streamlining existing markets
through legal adjustments and improving information and
signalling
● Tragedy of the commons → market as a problem
○ Analogy: There is a pasture where there are sheep and shepherds
■ Each shepard is responsible for their sheep
■ The pasture belongs to no one
■ The grass feeds the sheep but also not owned by anyone
■ So market liberals say the shepherds are rational actors who will try to
buy as many sheep to eat the grass
■ Once the sheep is healthy, they will try to profit as much as possible from
them
○ BUT from a macro level problematic:
■ Grass is gone quickly and cannot be used for future generations of
shepherds
■ Macro level it makes more sense to let the sheep graze after the grass has
had time to regenerate → allows more shepherds over a long period of
time
○ Another analogy with fish:
■ Fishermen try to get as many fish to sell it which is correct according to
rational behaviour
■ BUT this is not good for the lake because there will be no fish anymore
■ So each fisherman should be limited
, ○ Market liberals argue that there is a market failure because the environment gets
depleted because economic rational behavior is not sustainable
● Negative externalities
○ Buyer and seller engage in economic transaction → “third party” suffers
consequences
■ Production preceding transaction → leading to pollution for example
■ Consumption following transaction → plastic waste or emissions from
cars
○ 3rd party not profiting at all → worrying as market transactions create problems
● Examples market solutions: by making markets better or creating new ones
○ Property rights for commons
■ Could address both tragedy of commons and some negative externalities
■ So there is someone to maintain the commons → someone is responsible
for that area
■ If owners are rational they will want to manage it sustainably
○ Carbon emissions markets
■ Regulations on a market for emissions → hold all parties responsible
■ Those who emit less can sell a permit to another party
■ So through trade of rights to emit creates an overall situation where there
can be an overall decrease in carbon emissions
○ Consumer labels for environmentally friendly products
■ So improving information for consumers
● Example of research agenda and findings
○ Consumer labels and their attractiveness → Relationship price and
environmental label
○ Clear group of consumers who are interested in buying more sustainable
products
○ If those prices are high that a significant amount of consumers will not buy them
○ So high prices for sustainable products means a loss of consumers
○ But also if low prices for sustainable products also lose consumers → people
believe sustainable products must be expensive and begin to doubt the claim
that the product is sustainable
Question: HOW CAN INTERNATIONAL TREATIES CONTRIBUTE TO MITIGATING HARMFUL
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE?
Institutionalists
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