Fall 2024 | POL 3810 Section 001: Topics in International Relations and Foreign Policy -- The Global Politics of Climate Change (32728)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Repeat Credit Limit:
- 6 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- Student Option
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person
- Class Attributes:
- Topics Course
- Times and Locations:
- Regular Academic Session09/03/2024 - 12/11/2024Mon, Wed 01:00PM - 02:15PMUMTC, West BankBlegen Hall 145
- Enrollment Status:
- Closed (25 of 25 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- Topics courses delve in-depth into important issues in contemporary international politics. They aim to give students the theoretical, conceptual, and historical understanding, and/or empirical tools needed to understand the complexity of international politics today. Topics courses vary substantially from year to year as specified in the class schedule, but recent topics courses have included: 'Technology and War', International Law', 'Drones, Detention and Torture: The Laws of War', and 'The Consequences of War.'
- Class Notes:
- Climate change is the existential crisis of our time. Climate change mitigation requires strong global action, but the global community has been slow to respond. This course will ask why. We will consider various international aspects central to the causes and consequences of, and possible solutions to, the climate crisis. The course aims to provide a broad overview of the key concepts, actors, debates, and issues around the global climate crisis. It demonstrates the complexities of both the nature of the problems as well as the solutions. We will consider such questions as: 1) What are the political and economic challenges to creating strong and effective international agreements to address the climate crisis? 2) What role can and do non-state actors, including corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and even subnational entities such as cities, play in mitigating climate change? 3) How can global concerns over climate (in)justice be best served, and how likely is it that these concerns will be addressed? In addition to lectures and discussion, one pillar of this course will be an ongoing simulation around climate change. Students will be assigned specific roles in specific countries or organizations. Each week, they will respond to a new set of challenges. Through lectures, discussion, written assignments, and simulation, students will take a deep dive into the global politics of climate change. By the end of this course, students will have: 1) Advanced their critical thinking regarding global responses to the climate crisis. 2) Engaged with arguments representing a wide diversity of voices, especially from the Global South. 3) Clearly identified specific problems pertaining to the climate crisis, and worked toward potential solutions. http://classinfo.umn.edu/?POL3810+Fall2024
- Class Description:
Climate change is the existential crisis of our time. Climate change mitigation requires strong global action, but the global community has been slow to respond. This course will ask why. We will consider various international aspects central to the causes and consequences of, and possible solutions to, the climate crisis. The course aims to provide a broad overview of the key concepts, actors, debates, and issues around the global climate crisis. It demonstrates the complexities of both the nature of the problems as well as the solutions. We will consider such questions as:
- What are the political and economic challenges to creating strong and effective international agreements to address the climate crisis?
- What role can and do non-state actors, including corporations, nongovernmental organizations, and even subnational entities such as cities, play in mitigating climate change?
- How can global concerns over climate (in)justice be best served, and how likely is it that these concerns will be addressed?
- Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, students will have:
- Advanced their critical thinking regarding global responses to the climate crisis;
- Engaged with arguments representing a wide diversity of voices, especially from the Global South;
- Clearly identified specific political problems pertaining to the climate crisis, and worked toward potential solutions.
- Class Format:
In addition to lectures and discussion, one pillar of this course will be an ongoing simulation around climate change. Students will be assigned specific roles in specific countries or organizations. Each week, they will respond to a new set of challenges. Through lectures, discussion, written assignments, and simulation, students will take a deep dive into the global politics of climate change.- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/32728/1249
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 26 October 2023
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2024 Political Science Classes
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