This course provides an in-depth of analysis both of the theoretical underpinnings to different approaches to climate policy at the international and national levels, and how these different approaches have played out in practice. Students will learn how legislative frameworks have developed over the last 30 years, and also be able to appraise those frameworks critically.

This course presents the basics of public policy analysis in relation to the environment. We present policy instruments, actors and processes both conceptually and empirically.For an additional credit point, students can write a term paper on an environmental topic applying concepts from environmental policy using qualitative content analysis.

The students develop research projects on climate change adaptation in which they combine and apply quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis. The students identify political, economically and socially acceptable adaptation measures and thus also evaluate the social and ethical dimensions of climate risk analysis and adaptation.

The aim of this course is to convey methodological principles of social science research and thus to encourage critical reflection on social science findings. The course provides an insight into the concrete procedure and methods of guideline-based interview techniques and questionnaire research.