PSY2506 – Green Mediation: Conflict, Collaboration, and Change Towards a Sustainable Future

Course content

Implementing changes towards more sustainability on the societal, economic and individual levels poses opportunities and threats. For example, the costs and benefits of sustainable energy transitions are not usually evenly distributed, and people may not always perceive them accurately. This reality has generated numerous place-based resistance movements and intractable, intergroup stakeholder conflicts that stall progress toward decarbonization, which in turn exacerbates the climate change crisis that we collectively face. Globally, some relevant examples include local opposition to wind energy turbines, hydropower plants, and large-scale solar power installations. In this course, we will analyze such environmental conflicts to understand the realistic and symbolic threats involved. We will also learn about various models and methods of collaboration and conflict management, and practice applying them to conflicts surrounding global climate change and sustainability.

Learning outcome

• Know some of the prototypical conflicts in climate change mitigation, the parties involved and their positions

• Identify causes of conflicts related to resources, ideology, and identity

• Understand the social and cognitive dynamics behind these conflicts, including underlying interests and needs, perceived threats and opportunities, social norms, and heuristics/biases

• Examine the roles of cooperation and competition in the escalation of conflicts

• Describe the "tragedy of the commons" and the conditions for cooperation in this dilemma

• Distinguish the issue level from the relational level in the analysis of conflict

 Skills:

• Analyze conflicts through the lenses of different conflict models

• Identify integrative potential in conflicts that facilitate win-win solutions.

• Principled negotiation

• Trust-building through cooperation

• Practical know-how in negotiation, mediation, and collaborative processes

• Fostering mutual recognition and tolerance

• Develop sound judgment in situation assessment

General competencies:

• Reflect on values and standards in conflict management approaches

• Awareness of one’s own role and how one’s identity, ideology and values impact one’s feelings, decisions and actions

• Thinking strategically about when, where and how to engage, and when to disengage

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Teaching

The teaching will consist of lectures and seminars. 

Compulsory activity

The seminars will be compulsory, with attendance 10/12 times, with mandatory attendance the first time. 

There will also be a compulsory oral presentation that has to be passed to get access to the exam.

Take a look at the general guidelines for compulsory activity.

The e-learning tool Canvas will be used during the course.

Absence from compulsory activity

If the students is sick or if there is other serious reasons the student can not attend mandatory activity, there can in some cases be recognized as attendance or postponement of mandatory activities. 

Give notice of absence or postponement from mandatory activities.

Examination

Individual semester essay. Requirements about the form and the content of the essay will be provided at the beginning of the course and posted on Canvas.

Examination support material

All exam support materials are allowed during this exam. Generating all or part of the exam answer using AI tools such as Chat GPT or similar is not allowed.

Language of examination

You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

If you are sick or have another valid reason for not attending the regular exam, we offer a postponed exam later in the same semester.

See also our information about resitting an exam.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.