Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university, including at least 90 credits in the social sciences or humanities. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

After the course the student should be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• account for important legal rules and administrative regulations of the most common forms of land use in Russia;
• show empirical knowledge about some of the main areas of competition over nature and natural resources;
• define relevant theoretical perspectives and concepts in the study and analysis of environmental conflicts and governance;

Competence and skills

• analyse different forms of nature use in Russia;
• independently identify environmental conflict and main stakeholders;
• analyse practices of nature protection and conservation;

Judgment and approach

• recognize patterns of nature governance and analyse them in the context of historical factors, economic arrangements, and social and political processes in Russia, and globally;
• critically assess the role of legal documents and administrative practices in environmental governance;
• correlate environmental governance in Russia with notions of environmental justice, democracy, and human rights;
• critically scrutinize Russia's claims of support for sustainable development and the green economy against existing economic and administrative practices;

Content

This course provides an overview of topics related to different forms of nature use and their regulation in Russia. Students will be introduced into legal provisions and administrative arrangements of land use and nature protection. In order to compare how practices correspond to official provisions, a special focus will be put on conflicts over nature and the arguments that different stakeholders have. The course will suggest different theoretical perspectives for analysis of environmental conflicts and better understanding of the patterns of environmental governance in Russia. Along the way, Russia's claims of support for sustainable development and the green economy will be scrutinized against existing economic and administrative practices.

Instruction

The course comprises of lectures and seminars.

Assessment

The course is assessed by attendance and active participation in seminar discussions, oral presentations, and written assignments.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator or a decision by the department's working group for study matters.