F1ES 4125 - Climate Geopolitics: International Relations in a Warming World

Climate change has now grown from a scientific concern to one of the most pressing political issues of our time. Yet it continues to be often regarded as an environmental issue, which could be solved through technical measures and environmental policies. This course challenges this assumption and shows how climate change poses a significant challenge to international relations, as well as to the very concepts they rely on: territory, sovereignty, justice… Though the Paris Agreement, negotiated at COP21 in 2015, constitutes the first universal agreement on climate change, the views and policies on climate change remain anchored in national contexts. As we are now entering the Antropocene, the ‘Age of Humans', what will international relations look like in a world transformed by climate change?

Chapter 1

International Relations and the Environment

• The importance of the Anthropocene for international relations
• The Paris Agreement and International Cooperation

Chapter 2

Climate Change as a Political Issue

• Geography of greenhouse gas emissions
• Geography of climate impacts
• Solutions: Individual behavior and collection choices

Chapter 3

Migration, displacement and security

• Anthropocene and its victims: environmental migration and displacement
• Climate change as a security threat
• Sea-level rise, land grabbing and the meaning of territory

Chapter 4

Politics in the Anthropocene

• A brief history of the climate negotiations
• Geo-engineering, populations resettlement and technological futures
• Environmental sovereignty and carbon democracy
• Politics of the Earth, a reinvention of geopolitics

Interactive seminars, alternating lectures and discussions.

The grading will be based on three components:

• Continuous participation throughout the semester (25% of the final mark). Before each session, a short question to introduce each session will be posted on an online forum. Students will be required to share their views on the question. After each class, students will be invited to debate the topics addressed during the session on an online forum. Finally, active oral participation will be expected during each class.
• A reading note (25% of the final mark) related to materials covered in class.
• A final research paper, to be handed in at the end of the semester (50% of the final mark). In this assignment, students will be asked to challenge a classical concept or theory of international relations using the materials and topics covered in class.

No oral presentation will be requested.