2491.15 - Political Sociology of Governance and Sustainable Management in the West Nordic Region.

2491.15

Political Sociology of Governance and Sustainable Management in the West Nordic Region.

10

Bachelor degree or equivalent with adequate component of social science, environmental or climate science.

This course will offer students a necessary reflexive and critical understanding of knowledge and theories of governance and sustainable management. The course will apply an overall distinction between foundational and anti-foundational philosophies of science with which to discuss different governance and sustainable management approaches. The specific approaches will then be applied in analyses of West Nordic cases, and through discussions will give students a broad sense of actors and social dynamics in relation to the complex social issues that the small (micro) societies of the West Nordic Region are facing.

The course content is divided into two parts: 1) The history of ideas, which will focus on the ideational content of different philosophy of science approaches informing governance and sustainable management. 2) The practices of governance and sustainable management, which will focus on the material and practical expressions of climate and environmental governance and sustainable management. Special attention will be given to examples from the West Nordic Region and the differences between “disciplinary approaches”; i.e. mono-, intra-, multi-, cross-, inter-, and transdisciplinarity. The course is connected to ongoing research activities at the University of the Faroe Islands.

The course is based on 40 hours of teaching in a combination of three types of approaches: 1) Classroom teaching (20 hours) will introduce different topics, and will be used to reflect upon and discuss the other activities such as guest lectures and field visits. 2) Practical learning (10 hours) with the specific topics through dissemination of new knowledge gained through e.g. own interviews and observations. E.g. through writing a blog, making videos, posters, public speaking, or a radio programme. The lecturer functions as supervisor. 3) Dialogue sessions (10 hours) where teachers and students engage in dialogue with society, e.g. political, business, and civil society actors. Students will help prepare the dialogue.

At the end of the course the students will be able to: • Describe, analyse and discuss difficult and complex scientific and practical challenges relating to climate and environmental governance and sustainable management in a West Nordic perspective. • Describe, analyse and discuss differences between “disciplinary approaches”; i.e. mono-, intra-, multi-, cross-, inter-, and transdisciplinarity. • Critically answer and discuss questions about how science, policy and society relate to each other in both theory and practice. • Demonstrate skills in communication of new knowledge based on own material to a non-academic audience. • Present academic reflections about own dialogue with society on a given topic.

• Following the three case studies, students will produce a written, audio, or visual presentation of one case targeted a non-academic audience. • Based on the communication product, students must write a synopsis paper that explains the communication product in relation to a chosen problem and the course literature. It must also reflect upon the presentation and reception of the product. The written paper must be maximum 1.500 words. • The overall course will be assessed through an oral exam using the synopsis paper and case presentation: External examiners (with teacher).

External

7-

1.000 pages research literature in English. 300 pages empirical material in English.

Lau Øfjord Blaxekjær