A World Systems Perspective of the Diffusion of Environmental Provisions in Constitutions (EPICs) and its Impact on Environmental Education

• In Event: Politics and Practice of Climate Change Education

Proposal

The global environmental movement has become the best chance humanity has to combat climate change and ecological collapse. The March 2023 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report finds that “rapid changes in atmosphere, ocean cryosphere and biosphere has occurred leading to widespread adverse impacts and related losses and damages to nature and people” (IPCC, 2023, p. 5). While 75% of national constitutions around the world protect citizens rights to a safe and clean environment (Boyd, 2012), humanity is still set to miss the most reasonable climate mitigation strategies due to excessive carbon emissions and consumption (Kikstra et al., 2022). Young people are unfortunately positioned to bear the brunt of a changing climate for their generations as well as future ones (O’Brein et al., 2018). As political actors who, at large, cannot yet vote or hold office, youth have turned to activism to express their frustration, hope, and find channels to demand a more eco-friendly future (Haugestad et al., 2021; O’Brein et al., 2018; Stone, 2021). Importantly, economically disadvantaged countries and those in the Global South are far worse positioned to bear the brunt of climate change. Since most youth spend the majority of their lives within formal schooling, it is critical to unpack how environmental rights are vertically diffused from national constitutions, to school and, in turn, what students glean from their formal education learning environments.
This research draws on World Systems Theory (Wallerstein, 1974) to unpack how environmental provisions in constitutions (EPIC) diffuse, the tendencies in their global diffusion and what impact they actually have at a nation state level. While research has been conducted on the global proliferation of constitutions (Beck et al., 2012) and constitutional rights (Goderis & Versteeg, 2014), there is a gap as in explaining why EPICS have diffused and how. Moreover, little is known about how inequality impacts the spread of EPICs internationally and their ability to influence policy, curriculum and instruction.

Scholars advocate for further comparative research on these documents to understand their ability to protect citizen rights (Elkins & Ginsberg, 2021). This quantitative research utilizes the 2016 International Citizenship and Civics Study (ICCS) to unveil how might the presence of an EPIC and what kind of EPIC it is has an effect on 13.5-year olds environmental education (EE) outcomes. This research compares 22 countries within the ICCS database and asks how a country’s World Systems position, coupled with an EPIC adoption or not, may be a factor in EE outcomes. Further, I include national environmental and economic variables sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators to test whether the strength of the national economy and environmental quality can be predicted by EPIC adoption.

Findings suggest that peripheral and Global South countries are more likely to adopt EPICs. Furthermore, Global South countries in the ICCS database are more likely to have better EE outcomes. This research helps answer the topical question as to whether environmental policy matters and what national factors shape the next generations’ environmental literacies.

Author

• Darren Rabinowitz, Teachers College