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Global Sustainability Challenges

Module description

Multiple transnational challenges face policy-makers in the 21^st Century, raising questions over how they should be governed in practice. In this respect, the United Nations has set out a normative agenda for future global policy up to the year 2030 via its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), agreed by national governments in 2012. These goals encompass the critical issues of our times, including reducing poverty, ensuring access to clean water, promoting clean energy, preserving oceans, reducing inequality and maintaining global security. Achieving them will require innovative critical thinking and novel, interdisciplinary policy solutions. The module will therefore seek to identify, discuss and evaluate emerging policy responses to these challenges at multiple institutional levels as basis for lesson-drawing. Drawing on theories of governance as an analytical lens it will: examine the context to the SDGs; provide an overview of the UN targets; introduce a range of governance theories (for example, multi-level governance, network governance, regulatory governance, collaborative governance, urban governance, polycentric governance, mixed governance, global governance); and provide an empirical and theoretical analysis of critical policy challenges to attaining the SDGs. The module will be of interest to students from many disciplines, including political science, international relations, geography, science-technology-society and can be taken by physical scientists with an interest in policy.

No prior knowledge skills or experience are required to take this module and it is suitable for specialist and non-specialist students. The module is suitable for students on interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to examine critical policy challenges facing policy makers on a global scale. The module will first introduce key concepts such as sustainable development, governance and policy. It will then discuss significant theoretical arguments from the governance perspective, including multi-level governance, network governance, regulatory governance, collaborative governance and urban governance. An historical overview of the UN’s sustainable development agenda will then be provided, with an emphasis on the post-Johannesburg period, to explain the emergence of the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Critical policy challenges inherent in the SDGs will then be identified, with more detailed empirical and theoretical analyses conducted to identify potential lessons for global policy learning. Conclusions will reflect back on governing such challenges and look forward to examine future developments. The module therefore places a strong emphasis on empirical research skills, data collection, critical analysis, interdisciplinarity and normative problem-solving; which are key skills required for future policy makers in a rapidly globalizing world.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of sustainable development, governance and policy – key concepts, theoretical arguments and major academic texts.
• 2. Assimilate taught materials and utilise them to analyse critical policy issues.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Research, write and present analytical assignments effectively.
• 4. Formulate critical arguments.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Communicate arguments effectively through coursework submissions and seminar contributions.
• 6. Develop and present policy relevant recommendations based in analysis.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction: global policy challenges
• Governance theoretical frameworks
• Sustainable development - conceptual and policy responses
• An overview of the MDGs, SDGs and critical targets
• Eradicating poverty and hunger
• Improving health
• Ensuring access to clean water
• Promoting clean energy
• Creating sustainable cities
• Preserving the oceans
• Climate action
• Lesson-drawing on policy responses

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to redo the assessment(s) as defined above. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Baker, S. (2015) Sustainable Development. London: Routledge;
• Evans, J.P. (2011) Environmental Governance. London: Routledge.
• Conca, K. (2015) An Unfinished Foundation: The United Nations and Global Environmental Governance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Bevir, M. (2009) Key concepts in Governance. London: Sage.

Key words search

Governance, global, policy, sustainable development goals