teaching

Environmental Governance: From Local to Global

Spring 2027

This course examines how the interplay of institutions, incentives, and power can help us understand progress and stalemate in achieving the goals of climate and environmental policies and interventions. In an era of increasingly urgent and complex environmental challenges, we will draw on core concepts from political economy to understand (a) how institutions and incentives shape the actions of diverse actors and (b) why policies succeed or falter in achieving socially optimal environmental goals . By considering the choices, constraints, and power asymmetries facing not only policymakers and voters but also bureaucrats, firms, NGOs, community organizations, and other non-state actors, we will devote attention to both policy design and implementation and to how they shape impacts . The course progresses from foundational theories of institutions and governance to the incentives and constraints facing key actors and, finally, to contemporary applications in forests, energy, water, and climate. Empirical cases will be drawn primarily from developing countries, while also incorporating comparative evidence from other contexts, with an emphasis on empirical studies that rely largely on quantitative evidence. Students will develop an institutional toolkit to diagnose why a given policy succeeded or failed and acquire skills in analyzing policy interventions and communicating their findings.