¿ Critically evaluating contributions to ¿green political theory¿, reflect on their premises and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of individual theoretical approaches. ¿ Discussing and analyzing empirical data on environmental attitudes and environmental behavior in established democracies. ¿ Explaining the historical origins and current developments of environmental movements in Spain and other European countries, taking account of social, economic, cultural, ecological and political changes over time and across different nations. ¿ Knowing the historical origin and current development of green parties in Spain and other European countries, taking account of social, economic, cultural, ecological and political factors.

¿ Green political theory: Definition and potential relationship with other classic ideologies ¿ Political regimes and environment: Do democracies perform better and why? ¿ Environmental political attitudes and behavior: Environmental concern and potential link with political action ¿ Environmental movements: Causes, types and consequences; who are green activists? ¿ Green parties: Causes, types and consequences; institutional presence ¿ The politics of climate change

Sessions will be divided into the following parts: 1. The teacher develops the most important elements of each topic and presents the crucial conceptual problems linked to the skills that students should acquire. Although the role of the students in these parts is more passive, there are several instances in which discussion is proposed. 2. In other parts, the teacher presents and discuss a paper linked to the topics of the session emphasizing the methodological choices, the empirical strategies and the relevance of the conclusions. The main goal here is to suggest to the students ways to analyze and critically read the recent literature on the topics of the course, and to trigger a lively debate. 3. Students¿ presentations. 4. Instructor¿s explanations on assignments to be completed by students at home.