210106 VO M4 Environmental Diplomacy and the Future of Multilateralism (2020W)

This lecture introduces Master students to the basic features of environmental diplomacy, with a specific focus on diplomatic practice and the ‘sites’, where multilateral environmental agreements are negotiated (Vadrot 2020). The course is divided into three parts: 1) Theory and concepts (diplomatic theory, practice approaches, critical policy approaches), 2) Empirical cases (climate change, biodiversity conservation, ocean protection) and examples of how to study the ‘sites’ of environmental diplomacy, 3) Future challenges, including the effects of COVID 19 on diplomatic practice.

The measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 led to the postponement of many intergovernmental negotiations and Conferences of the Parties (COPs), where environmental diplomacy takes place. These include COP 26 of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), COP 15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and ongoing treaty negotiations to protect the marine environment in the High Seas. During these negotiations, state and non-state actors seek to determine the rules, values and norms that should guide environmental protection in the future (e.g. Chasek 2000; Death 2014; Hughes and Vadrot 2019). Many students, researchers and activists participate in these conferences to study global environmental politics, to identify new forms of power and influence and to analyse the practices of environmental diplomacy and conflict. Yet, COVID-19 has affected both diplomatic practice and the study thereof (O’ Neill and Haas 2019).

Starting from the premise that negotiation ‘sites’ are important entry points to shape and study contemporary dynamics in global environmental politics, the lecture has three central aims:

1) To introduce students to key theoretical and conceptual foundations of multilateral environmental diplomacy and agreement making and to enable students to distinguish between their descriptive, normative and analytical potential.

2) To demonstrate how theoretical and methodological apparatus (including approaches drawing on the work of Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu) can be applied to study and critically investigate the ‘sites’ of environmental agreement making and the distribution of power within them. You will be introduced to cases
- in different policy fields (Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ocean Protection),
- in different settings of multilateral environmental diplomacy (COPs, assessment bodies, Intergovernmental Conferences )
- in relation to new emerging issues (biocultural diversity, biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction)

3) The third aim is to critically discuss the future of multilateralism and environmental diplomacy in light of scholarly scepticism, continuous environmental degradation, COVID-19 and the effects of digital practices.

The course targets Master students interested in the various themes of multilateral environmental diplomacy, diplomatic practice, and global environmental politics more broadly. The course combines theory and practice is therefore interesting for students that wish to increase their knowledge and skills related to 1) the application of theoretical approaches and concepts to specific empirical cases, 2) the practicalities of studying the ‘sites’ of environmental diplomacy.

12.10.20 Introduction: Why do the ‘sites’ of environmental diplomacy matter?
19.10.20 Theory & concepts I: Diplomatic theory of International Relations
09.11.20 Theory & concepts II: Practice approaches to the study of diplomacy
16.11.20 Theory & concepts III: Practices and practicalities of multilateral negotiations and environmental diplomacy
23.11.20 Theory & concepts IV: Conceptualising negotiation ‘sites’
30.11.20 Case I: Climate change - UNFCC
07.12.20 Case II: Biodiversity - CBD&IPBES
14.12.20 Case III: Ocean Protection
11.01.21 Future challenges I: Continuity and disruption
18.01.21 Future challenges II: COVID-19, multilateralism and digital diplomacy
25.01.21 Exam