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SoSe 17: The Ecological Modernization-Capacities of Advanced Industrial Countries - Focus on Germany and Japan

Helmut Weidner, Lutz Mez

Kommentar

Although many industrial countries have pledged to integrate more systematically ecological considerations in their overall policies there exists often a rather large gap between the official goals and reality. Japan and Germany belong to the small group of countries who started quite early with establishing a comprehensive environmental policy. However, over time their development paths became quite different over, especially in the areas of climate change, nuclear energy and renewables. Whereas Germany became a forerunner in these areas, Japan's climate and energy policy has stalled. In this seminar we will explore (a) what the main differences are, and (b) by which factors they could be explained. The overall goal of the seminar is to find out what kind of (political, economic, historical, cultural, institutional and technological) factors played a role with respect to the (ecological) modernization capacity and capability, policy learning and policy change. The empirical focus will be (mainly) on four areas: automobility; nuclear energy, incl. decommissioning of power plants and nuclear waste disposal; renewables; and rare earth (as an important resource for technological innovation in the three other areas). The seminar will be guided inter alia by the theory and analytical approaches of "path dependency", "ecological modernization", "capacity building" and "critical environmental policy analysis". These approaches will be introduced in the first sessions of the seminar. Participants are expected to write a seminar paper (in English or German) and to make a 30minutes presentation on their chosen subject. Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Jänicke, M., Weidner, H. (Eds.) (2012) National Environmental Policies: A Comparative Study of Capacity-Building, Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer Mez, L., Abdolvand, B. (2016) Neue Ressourcenpolitik – nachhaltige Geopolitik? Staatliche Initiativen des globalen Nordens zur Sicherung von kritischen Rohstoffen am Beispiel der Seltenen Erden, in: Kümmerer, K., Exner, A., Held, M. (Hrsg.): Kritische Metalle in der Großen Transformation. Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer Spektrum, S. 141-160 Mez, L, Schneider, M., Thomas, S. (eds.) (2009): International Perspective on Energy Policy and the Role of Nuclear Power, Brentwood: Multi Science Publishing Weidner, H., Jänicke, M. (Eds.) (2002) Capacity Building in National Environmental Policy: A Comparative Study of 17 Countries, Berlin-Heidelberg: Springer Schließen

14 Termine

Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung

Mi, 14:00 - 16:00 14 Termine

Mi, 19.04.2017 14:00 - 16:00

Dozenten:
PD Dr. Helmut Weidner
PD Dr. Lutz Mez