Sustainable Development: Politics and Policies (753N1)

15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Autumn teaching

In this module, you'll be introduced to the politics and policies of sustainable development.

We'll look at the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and the unfolding socio-ecological catastrophes that they try to address, as well as discuss diverse conceptual approaches to sustainability transformations. These include varieties of political ecology and the pluralist pathways approach developed at the University of Sussex, as part of the STEPS Centre.

Also discussed are policy frameworks for promoting ‘sustainability transitions’ in specific areas of activity like mobility and agriculture as well as wider political struggles for sustainability by social movements in different parts of the world.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 33 hours of contact time and about 117 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.