Explore our Politics of Climate Change taught Master's degree.

Page Updates

We may have revised the information on this page since publication. See the edits we have made and content history.

TPOS-M1PD

MA

1 year full-time
2 years part-time

30 September 2024

Politics and International Studies

University of Warwick

Warwick’s Politics of Climate Change MA provides students with a deep understanding of the political dimensions of climate change. It explores the political opportunities and obstacles (at the global, regional and national levels) to addressing climate change and its effects.

Climate change raises many political questions. Why has it been so difficult to implement ambitious climate policies? What are the political obstacles to a clean energy transition? What are the prospects of reaching just and effective climate agreements at the international negotiations? Many talk of ‘climate justice’, but what does ‘climate justice’ mean? Who should pay for ‘mitigation’, ‘adaptation’ and ‘loss and damage’? How do climate policies affect the politics of development?

This programme enables students to understand the politics of climate change in all its diversity – in different societies across the world, and at the global, regional and the national level. The course is taught by leading figures in the field. The programme introduces students to competing theories, core political concepts and the key debates surrounding climate politics. In this way, we develop a better understanding of the political factors affecting one of the greatest challenges that humanity faces.

Modules are taught via one 2-hour seminar per week. Seminars give you the opportunity to interact with leading scholars as well as with your peers to explore a set topic each week. Every seminar will be based on extensive guided reading you will do each week, but there is no strict pattern to how sessions are run. This may include mini-lectures followed by discussion, Q&A sessions, organised debates, peer presentations, policy briefs, small group work, case studies, simulations, and other projects.

You can also choose to study part-time with us. Find out more about part-time study on our PAIS web pagesLink opens in a new window.

Normally a maximum of 18 per seminar group in PAIS delivered modules.

6 hours of Seminars per week for 9 weeks in Terms One and Two plus advice and feedback hours when requested and Dissertation supervision in Terms Two and Three.

Assessment methods include research essays and other (written) assignments throughout the year, culminating in a 10,000 word dissertation at the end.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules in a module pre-registration process about which you will receive information at the beginning of September.

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in a related subject.

Visit our PAIS web pages for department-specific advice on applying to ensure your application has the best chance for success.

Postgraduate FAQs (PAIS specific)

Postgraduate FAQs (General)

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Politics of Governing for Climate Change

A highly complex politics sits behind the increasingly varied attempts to mitigate for, adapt to, and pay out loss and damage funds as a result of, climate change. The implications of climate change are experienced in such an uneven manner, responsibility for historic and current emissions is concentrated in the Global North and BRICS countries, and, crucially, no administration, be it global, national, local or corporate, yet has all the answers regarding how to meet global targets.

This module equips students with an understanding of the different ways in which climate change is governed, by whom, why some choices are made and others sidelined, and what the key obstacles to, and opportunities for, meeting GHG emissions reduction targets are. By picking apart, exploring, and better understanding the ideational and interest-based foundations of climate change policies, and governing institutions, this module offers students an in-depth introduction to why governing for climate change is so complex and, at times, frustrating. Revealing political details and complexity is useful on its own terms, but doing so can also help us to identify that what needs to be overcome to improve current attempts to address climate change.

Nine Ideas in Climate Politics

Climate change poses a significant challenge to traditional assumptions about global political governance. Issues of power, justice, and the failures of existing economic and political models are at the root of the climate challenge. In this introductory module we look beyond technological solutions to examine underlying political, economic and ethical dynamics, posing difficult questions that often challenge mainstream assumptions about how to tackle climate change. We draw on different perspectives and methodologies, including political theory, international relations, and political economy.

Weekly topics include: Justice and Mitigation; Can Capitalism Cope with Climate Change?; Global Climate Governance; Unsustainable Consumption; Carbon Offsetting; Justice and Adaptation; Security Narratives in the Politicisation of Climate Change; The Geopolitics of Sustainable Energy Transformations; How Climate Change Challenges Current Political & Social Orthodoxies; The Anthropocene; Colonialism, Race and Indigenous Perspectives; Loss and Damage; Geoengineering.

Dissertation

The Dissertation is an opportunity to study a topic of your choosing, in autonomy and in-depth, under the guidance of an advisor selected among the many experts in the Department. The Dissertation topic should be related to your course. It is an original empirical and/or theoretical investigation, led over terms 2 and 3, that takes further the work done in regular seminars in terms 1 and 2. The Dissertation is the closest you will get to real research during your degree. It is a key experience if you have a PhD in view, or extra-academic research, or any future employment that will require the ability to lead investigations and write reports in autonomy.

• Climate Justice and the Transition to a Sustainable World
• Energy Security
• Loss and Damage
• Environmental Politics
• Global Justice and Future Generations
• Elections, Voters, Parties, and Climate Change Policy

The optional module listsLink opens in a new window are updated regularly.

You may select up to 40 CATS (normally two modules) from a list of specialist modules for this course, and a further 40-80 CATS from our extensive range of optional modules for a total of 120 CATS of taught modules.

We have revised the information on this page since publication. See the edits we have made and content history.

This is a holding content block which does not currently display on the page. To make it live, update the copy above, change the Title to remove the brackets, and delete this sentence.