9 Ideas in Climate Politics

Climate change poses significant risks to all of humanity and raises profound questions about politics and ethics. In this module, each week a different expert from our Department will give a seminar on their own research specialism within the field of climate politics, to introduce students to a range of key themes around the social, political and moral aspects of climate change. The module director, Marit Hammond, will then lead an interactive seminar following each topic. Across all weeks, the module explores the question whether climate change can be sufficiently addressed through decarbonisation policies alone, or demands a deeper understanding of the systemic driving forces behind the crisis, and thus potentially profound societal transformation at that level. In covering this central question along a variety of thematic foci, it provides a pathway for students interested in climate change to explore their particular interests and concerns in order to pursue these in more detail in subsequent optional modules. Topics include The Anthropocene; The Climate Movement; Unsustainable Consumption; Loss and Damage; Carbon Offsetting; The Ecological Crisis of Capitalism; Can Capitalism Cope with Climate Change?; The Geopolitics of Sustainable Energy Transformations; How Climate Change Challenges Current Political & Social Orthodoxies; Colonialism, Race and Indigenous Perspectives.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to some of the key social, political and ethical questions posed by climate change and to challenge students to think beyond technological approaches to climate change. For this, the module aims to equip students:

• To understand the political, and moral questions raised by climate change and policies aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change.
• To develop their abilities to construct, analyse and evaluate argument concerning how we should address these challenges around climate change in both theory and practice.
• To present their own arguments on these issues in a rigorous, empirically informed, systematic, and creative way.
• To develop their analytical skills and capacity to engage in political and normative theorising.

• Demonstrate an advanced knowledge and profound, critical understanding of political issues around climate change, and arguments for and against different policies in response to climate change, for example to promote adaptation and mitigation, and ascertain their strengths and weaknesses;

• Have the ability to apply the theories and arguments analysed in the module to some central questions about climate politics facing contemporary societies;

• Demonstrate enhanced key skills such as written communication skills, problem solving, and information technology skills;

• Construct and substantiate a comprehensive and sophisticated argument.