Module Information
Module Identifier
IP20720
Module Title
Climate Change and International Politics in the Anthropocene
Academic Year
2024/2025
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 1
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 Hours Student-led seminar Presentation (Group) | 10% |
| Semester Assessment | Written essay 1500 Words | 40% |
| Semester Exam | 8.5 Hours Online examination 2000 words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Written submission in lieu of Student-led seminar 500 Words | 10% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Written essay 1500 Words | 40% |
| Supplementary Exam | 8.5 Hours Online examination 2000 words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
Understand and appreciate the nature of climate crisis and why this poses distinct challenges for international political practices and scholarship.
Grasp and critically debate the concept of the Anthropocene and appreciate their implications for debates on international politics and climate change.
Understand, expound and critically reflect on the debates on climate change in nexus with other global challenges, such as conflict, migration, inequality and democracy.
Reflect on the existing and potential political responses to climate change by a varied set of political actors.
Assess the implications of climate change for present and future international political practices, theories and concepts.
Brief description
This module examines the implications of climate change for the study and practice of international politics. It provides an introduction to climate change in the context of politics and international relations but also discusses the ways in which transdisciplinary dialogues might be facilitated and structured on climate change.
The Module:
- examines the nature of the climate change challenge;
- contextualises climate change in debates on the ‘Anthropocene’ in the natural and social sciences and in the field of international politics;
- examines the debates on the intersections between climate change and other global and planetary challenges (such as conflict, inequality, migration and democratic governance);
- asks the students to think through the challenges for political practice and the political imagination of climate change.
The Module:
- examines the nature of the climate change challenge;
- contextualises climate change in debates on the ‘Anthropocene’ in the natural and social sciences and in the field of international politics;
- examines the debates on the intersections between climate change and other global and planetary challenges (such as conflict, inequality, migration and democratic governance);
- asks the students to think through the challenges for political practice and the political imagination of climate change.
Content
Lectures: 18 x 1 hour
1. Climate crisis: what are we talking about?
2. Orientations to climate crisis in international politics – reformers and radicals
3. Trans-disciplinary challenges arising from climate change
4. Anthropocene: the concept
5. Anthropocene and International Relations I: challenges to the field
6. Anthropocene and IR II: Dialogues
7. Anthropocene and IR III: New orientations to human and non-human
8. Anthropocene and IR IV: (planetary) politics
9. Climate change in intersections with other issues
10. a. climate change and war/conflict
11 b. climate change and migration
12. c. climate change and global inequality
13. d. climate change and future of national and global democracy
14. Politics of the future
15. New actors and practices
16. Shadow of sovereignty
17. New imaginations
18. Conclusion
Seminars: 5 x 2 hour seminars
1. What are we talking about and what are the challenges for practice and study of politics?
2. Anthropocene debates
3. Student led seminars: Climate change, conflict and migration
4. Student led seminars: Climate change, inequality and democracy
5. Political (re-)imaginations
1. Climate crisis: what are we talking about?
2. Orientations to climate crisis in international politics – reformers and radicals
3. Trans-disciplinary challenges arising from climate change
4. Anthropocene: the concept
5. Anthropocene and International Relations I: challenges to the field
6. Anthropocene and IR II: Dialogues
7. Anthropocene and IR III: New orientations to human and non-human
8. Anthropocene and IR IV: (planetary) politics
9. Climate change in intersections with other issues
10. a. climate change and war/conflict
11 b. climate change and migration
12. c. climate change and global inequality
13. d. climate change and future of national and global democracy
14. Politics of the future
15. New actors and practices
16. Shadow of sovereignty
17. New imaginations
18. Conclusion
Seminars: 5 x 2 hour seminars
1. What are we talking about and what are the challenges for practice and study of politics?
2. Anthropocene debates
3. Student led seminars: Climate change, conflict and migration
4. Student led seminars: Climate change, inequality and democracy
5. Political (re-)imaginations
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Adaptability and resilience | Students will be required to undertake independent research in order to complete the assessed work. This will involve utilizing a range of information sources, including core academic texts, journal articles, electronic publications, and online news sources. |
| Co-ordinating with others | Students will undertake team exercises in the seminars and workshops. For many of the topics of this module, seminars will consist of small-group discussions where students will be asked to discuss as a group the core issues related to the seminar topic. These class discussions and debates form a significant part of the module, and will allow students to approach and examine a given topic through team work. |
| Creative Problem Solving | Independent work and problem solving will be one central goal of the module; the submission of written assignments will require that students develop independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. The ability of students to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt differing points of view; organise data and estimate an answer to the problem; consider extreme cases; reason logically; construct theoretical models; consider similar cases; |
| Digital capability | Students will enhance their proficiency using Blackboard, where materials to support learning will be made available. Students will also develop skills in searching for, and assessing the validity of, online information sources as part of preparation for lectures, seminars and assessed tasks. Assessed work will be presented in electronic format, according to standard expectations. |
| Professional communication | Students will be expected to demonstrate skills of political communication and persuasion in relation to the specific and individual assessment requirements of this module. Students will learn how to present their ideas verbally and in writing, and how to present their arguments most effectively. They will develop skills in using the many sources of information available to best advantage. They will learn to be clear in their writing and speaking and to be direct about aims and objectives. They |
| Real world sense | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context in which support and assistance is available from the module convenor and other students. The module is designed to hone and test skills of use to students in their working lives, particularly in speaking to small groups, listening, thinking and responding to the statement of others. Moreover, the written work requires students not only to write clearly and concisely, which is a common task in the workplace, but to develop and demon |
| Subject Specific Skills | Students have the opportunity to develop, practice and test a wide range of subject specific skills that help them to understand, conceptualise and evaluate examples and ideas on the module. These subject specific skills include: • Collect and understand a wide range of data relating to the module • Evaluate competing perspectives Apply a range of methodologies to complex historical and contemporary social and political problems. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 5