Geopolitics and the green transition(s) (Current Global and Development Challenges and Solutions)

E2025

Global and Development Studies / International Politics and Governance / Public Administration

Course

English

Read about the Master Programme and find the Study Regulations at ruc.dk

You register for activities through stads selvbetjening during the announced registration period, which you can see on the Study administration homepage.

When registering for courses, please be aware of the potential conflicts and overlaps between course and exam time and dates. The planning of course activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programmes, which should not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programmes, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

10

Lars Buur (lbuur@ruc.dk)

Markus-Michael Müller (muellerm@ruc.dk)

ISE Registration & Exams (ise-exams@ruc.dk)

U60663

A specialisation course aims to allow students to immerse themselves in the theories/theory lines and empirical issues pertaining to a particular subject area. The course equips students to competently select and argue for the applicability and relevance of a theory/theory line to given issues. The courses offered are based on the Institute's research in the field and knowledge of the highest international standard. The specific subject area of the courses will be described in the activity description.

Current Global and Development Challenges and Solutions addresses various global and development challenges, such as conflicts, questions of justice, inequality, sustainability, and effects for instance on states, markets and civil society.

Geopolitics and the green transition(s): From Greenland to African cases

Academic focus. Geopolitics is deeply entangled with the green transition. The demand for and competition over natural resources as part of the green transition have emerged as key topics both in resource-rich (developing) countries and resource-consuming (developed) countries. Developments around land-grabbing, critical minerals, natural resource investments, renewable energy, sustainability and climate change have become deeply entangled with the appetite for resources needed for the green transition. This has led to the re-emergence of traditional geopolitical issues in the form of struggles to protect and control resources and the environment, as leading nation states and transnational companies intensify their searches for and claims to potentially resource-rich areas. At the same time, however, a new parallel architecture of institutional governance is slowly but steadily manifesting itself by trying to tame, control, govern and set standards for the regulation, extraction, and use of funds from extractive industries related to the green transition(s). This is often done in the name of sustainability, which impacts on the governance of land, investments and resource extraction in trying to make the green transition(s) more accountable.

This elective seminar takes stock of current debates within political economy and political ecology on geopolitics and the green transition(s) by focusing on natural resource extraction and governance related to the green transition. It traces the historical roots of the academic debates, arguments, explanations and ontologies that underpin the green transition. We examine emerging trends around the green transition, climate change, renewables, natural resource investments, resource conflicts, corporate social responsibility and the role of new institutional geopolitical actors for regulation and standard setting, as well as providing examples of global and local forms of resource competition and governance.

Examples from: Greenland, Africa, and northern Europe

Course material is available on Moodle. As background literature: Stuart Kirsch. 2014. Mining Capitalism: the relationship between Corporations and their critics. University of California Press Peter Dicken (7 ediiton). 2015. Chapter 12: 'Making Holes in the Ground': The Extractive Industries. Pp. 395-422. In Peter Dicken, Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy. Sage.

A full reading list will be provided consisting of a mixture of articles, reports, book chapters and other types of material that will be uploaded or stated on Moodle in good time before course start. An additional reading list related to exams (book review) and newspaper features will also be uploaded on Moodle. The pensum will be roughly 60 academic pages per lecture.

10 ECTS x 27 hours = 270 Estimated:

13 lectures x 2 =26 hours;

Group work = 10;

Exam 1: Book review + exam 2= 78;

Exam 2: Newspaper assignment including the development of essay question + exam 1= 78;

Preparation: reading and preparing questions 13 x 6 = 78;

Total = 270 hours

The activity is evaluated regularly based on the study board's evaluation procedure. The responsible for the activity will be informed of any evaluation of the activity at the start of the semester. See link to the study board's evaluation practice here: https://intra.ruc.dk/fileadmin/assets/ise/Undervisning/Evaluation_procedures_at_ISE.pdf.

There will be a mid-term evaluation of the course. There will be feedback on group presentations There will be office hours for questions, as well as feedback on assignments after exams.

The course outline will be adapted to the availability of companies, international NGOs and government representatives The course is organized around three dimensions: The conceptual landscape; Conflicts, Renewables and the Green Transition(s); Critical minerals and geopolitical competition.

Tentative Course Structure:

A. The conceptual landscape: The new green extractivism

Lecture 1. Introduction I. Why is natural resource extraction and the green transition so contested? Professor Lars Buur and PhD Fellow Bjørk Tørnqvist.

Lecture 2. Introduction II. New ways of understanding geopolitics and the green transition(s) - governance of natural resources within and beyond the state centric model. Professor Lars Buur.

Lecture 3. Introduction III. Understanding Resource Investments: assemblages, rights and conflict. Professor Lars Buur.

B. Renewables and the Green Transition(s): conflict, wind and solar power

Lecture 4: What new kinds of conflicts do windfarms produce? Postdoc Jacob Ulrich

Lecture 5. The South African case of Community Foundations: success and development? Postdoc Jacob Ulrich

Lecture 6. Investments and Governing sustainability: The Lake Tukana case. Postdoc Jacob Ulrich

Lecture 7. VESTAS windmill company coming to discuss with us or we visit them. Postdoc Jacob Ulrich

Lecture 8: Discussion with Actors that form part of the Geopolitical field or Meeting NGO representatives engaged in governance and human rights. Professor Lars Buur

Space to write first assignment – book review

C. Geopolitics, Conflicts and rare earth extraction: Greenland as a contested case

Lecture 9: Critical Minerals and Geopolitical competition: the global competition between US, China and EU. PhD Fellow Bjørk Tørnqvist

Lecture 10: Inclusion of local populations in critical rare earth extraction: evidence and governmentality. PhD Fellow Bjørk Tørnqvist

Lecture 11: The dark side of the green transition: the incommensurability of value forms. PhD Fellow Bjørk Tørnqvist

D. At the end of the Road

Lecture 12. Summary and exam preparation hereunder essay 2 questions. Professor Lars Buur and PhD Fellow Bjørk Tørnqvist

Exams: Individual written portfolio. The portfolio consists of 2 written products, that wholly or partially are developed during the course. Both assignments will be handed in at the end of the course. In total the two assignments must not exceed 36,000 characters. See study.ruc.dk (https://study.ruc.dk/class/view/37877).

• Be able to explain and evaluate, using relevant terminology, the advantages and disadvantages of various theories/theory lines within the aspect of a subject area that is dealt with in the specialisation course

• Be able to confidently and independently evaluate, select and apply relevant theories in relation to an issue

• Be able to reflect critically on the relevance of the topic to the subject matter of the course

• Carry out analyses on a scientific basis and deal in a creative and solution-oriented manner with central issues within the course theme

• Communicate knowledge in language that is technically precise, well-structured and well-argued.

Individual portfolio exam.

The character limit of the portfolio is maximum 36,000 characters, including spaces. Examples of written products are exercise responses, talking points for presentations, written feedback, reflections, written assignments. The preparation of the products may be subject to time limits.
The character limits include the cover, table of contents, bibliography, figures and other illustrations, but exclude any appendices.

The portfolio is written completely or partially during the course.

The entire portfolio must be handed in at the same time (uploaded to eksamen.ruc.dk). Handing in the portfolio or parts of the portfolio to the supervisor for feedback, cannot replace the upload to eksamen.ruc.dk.

Assessment: 7-point grading scale.

Samme som ordinær eksamen / same form as ordinary exam

Individual portfolio exam.

Criterias related to the overall learning outcomes: Explain and discuss, using relevant terminology and perspectives, the advantages and disadvantages of various positions within the different dimensions of geopolitics and the green transition(s); be able to discuss natural resource extraction and regulation, that is dealt with in the specialization course. • Confidently and independently select and apply relevant theories and perspectives on geopolitics and the green transition, including resource governance in relation to a specific issue or thematic. • Analyze and reflect critically on the different perspectives and themes taken up in the course • Discuss and communicate knowledge in language that is technically precise, well-structured and well-argued.