SemesterSpring Semester, 2025
DepartmentSophomore Class of BA in Global Governance Junior Class of BA in Global Governance Senior Class of BA in Global Governance
Course NameGlobal Environment in Social Theory: Economics, Politics, and Ecology
InstructorCHIANG SHUN-NAN
Credit3.0
Course TypeElective
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

Schedule of Classes












































































































Week

Topic

Assigned Reading

#1



2/20

Course introduction

None

Part I: Economics

#2



2/27

Environmental Economics

Harris, Jonathan M., and Brian Roach. Environmental and natural resource economics: A contemporary approach. Routledge. 2017. (Ch3)

#3



3/6

Ecological Modernization & Green Growth

Mol, Arthur PJ, David A. Sonnenfeld, and Gert Spaargaren, eds. The Ecological Modernisation Reader: Environmental Reform in Theory and Practice. Routledge, 2020. (Ch2)

#4



3/13

Global Environment Governance



(Guest Lecture)

Warde, Paul, Libby Robin, and Sverker Sörlin. The Environment. A History of the Idea. 2021. Johns Hopkins University Press (Ch1)

#5



3/20

Eco-Marxism



Engel-Di Mauro, Salvatore. "Ecological Marxism." Ecosocialism: An Introduction. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024. (Ch5).

#6



3/27

Self-learning

#7



4/3

Holiday

Part II: Politics

#8



4/10

Sustainability Transition

Loorbach, Derk, Niki Frantzeskaki, and Flor Avelino. "Sustainability transitions research: transforming science and practice for societal change." Annual review of environment and resources 42.1 (2017): 599-626.

#9



4/17

Environmental Justice

Mohai, Paul, David Pellow, and J. Timmons Roberts. "Environmental justice." Annual Review of Environment and Resources 34.1 (2009): 405-430.

#10



4/24

Political Ecology

Robbins, Paul. Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2019. (Ch4)

#11



5/1

STS on Environmental Science

Frickel, Scott, and Florencia Arancibia. "Environmental science and technology studies." Handbook of Environmental Sociology (2021): 457-476.

#12



5/8

“Expert” Assembly #1

Part III: Ecology

#13



5/15

Ecological Economics



& De-growth Theory

Daly, Herman E., and Joshua Farley. Ecological Economics: Principles and Applications. Island Press, 2011. (Ch1)

#14



5/22

Feminist Ecology

Harcourt, Wendy, et al. Contours of Feminist Political Ecology. Springer Nature, 2023. (Ch2)

#15



5/29

Multi-Species Ethnography



& Anthropocene



Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, Andrew S. Mathews, and Nils Bubandt. "Patchy Anthropocene: Landscape structure, multispecies history, and the retooling of anthropology: An introduction to supplement 20." Current Anthropology 60.S20 (2019): S186-S197.

#16



6/5

Environmental History

Hughes, J. Donald. What is environmental history?. John Wiley & Sons, 2016. (Ch1)

#17



6/12

“Expert” Assembly #2

#18



6/19

Self-learning – working on the Synthesis Paper


 


Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant

TBD


Requirement/Grading

Evaluation      




  • Accumulative



There are five types of assignments you will finish during the course. As you can see, there is NO mid-term or final exam. All the grades are accumulative. This means you will accumulate your grades with each task you accomplish. But this also means you need to spend an equal amount of time on the course each week, and you will NOT have the chance to “cram” all the coursework at the end of the semester.



 



Grade Calculation



 




















































































(1) Guided Reading Note

36%

12 readings, 3% each

the end of every Monday

(2) Participation

26%

13 times, 2% each

N/A

(3) Synthesis Paper

27%

 

 




    • Problem statement

        5%

once 



The end of W8




    • Analysis table

        6%

once 



The end of W12




    • First draft

        8%

once 



The end of W17




    • Finalized article

        8%

once 



The end of W18

(4) The World Environment This Week

5%

once

N/A

(5) Study Journal

6%

 

 




    • Planning for the entire semester

                     2%                 



once

The end of W3




    • Mid-term self-assessment

        2%

once

The end of W9




    • End-of-Semester Reflection

                     2%

once

The end of W18

Total

100%

 


 


Textbook & Reference

There is no textbook for this course. We will read a chapter from one book or a piece of journal article each week.


Urls about Course
Attachment