The politics surrounding climate change is becoming increasingly fraught. Electoral successes for populist radical right parties, widespread discussion of ‘Greenlash’ and deadlocked international negotiations on climate change, typified by Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, all make any prospect of keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees seem like an impossibility.

It is clear the climate crisis is raising fundamental questions about the future not just of environmental politics, but the world as we know it. What is needed for a breakthrough in effective climate politics at such an intractable conjuncture? Is a new approach to democracy the answer – or is democracy itself a luxury that had its day in more prosperous times, now firmly in the past? What is the link between these political questions and the role of the economy in driving, adjusting to, or further exploiting the climate crisis?

In the context of these ‘Big Questions’, the Department of Politics and International Studies is holding a half-day conference on Climate Politics.

The event follows the launch of:-

• the MA in the Politics of Climate Change
• PAIS’ recent Climate Politics Essay Competition.

This event has been co-organised by the Environmental Politics Research Cluster and the Centre for Studies in Democratisation.