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Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture (390-0-24)

Topic

Research in Global Climate Change: Science, Rights

Instructors

Kimberly Ruggles Marion Suiseeya
847/491-8985
Office Hours: http://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/

Meeting Info

Scott Hall 201 Ripton Room: Tues 9:00AM - 11:50AM

Overview of class

Each year, world leaders gather to negotiate pathways to addressing climate change. As the largest gathering of heads of state, the annual Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP) shines a light on our collective futures, bringing hope and skepticism around climate change to the fore. Despite nearly three decades of negotiations, the world is unlikely to avoid devastating impacts from climate change, where average global temperature increases will exceed the 2oC goal and is nearing well over 3oC. What, then, do COPs achieve? What role do they play in addressing global climate change? What role does science, business, technology, solidarity movements, and civil society play in shaping the global politics of climate change, and there with the potential to address climate change?

In this research seminar, students will design and conduct original empirical research on the Twenty-ninth Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11 - 24, 2024 with some virtual components accessible online. The seminar is structured to establish a baseline understanding of global climate governance. Students enrolled in this course should consider themselves research apprentices and collaborators. There are three parts to this course: literature review, research design, and execution. Students are expected to conduct original research related to their dissertations or senior theses OR can participate as a researcher in an ongoing collaborative research project that examines the politics of sites of global environmental governance like COPs.

The course is appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students interested in conducting research on Climate COPs from different disciplinary backgrounds. Advanced undergraduates will take part in the digital side of the COP convening, while graduate students will have the option to travel to the COP, depending on additional course commitments during the fall quarter. Enrollment is by permission only; interested students should apply through the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. The application will launch in early spring quarter. Please visit buffett.northwestern.edu for more information, including details on travel funding.

Registration Requirements

Registration by Instructor Permission Only

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
(1) Develop empirical insights into pressing global climate change questions and challenges
(2) Devise appropriate methodological approaches for analyzing diverse types of data
(3) Design, plan, and produce a problem-based empirical research paper
(4) Integrate collaborative approaches in learning, leadership, and problem-solving endeavors
(5) Seek and cultivate meaningful modes of engagement to advance learning

Teaching Method

Discussion, applied research

Evaluation Method

Participation, research design, literature review, data collection and analysis, research paper

Class Materials (Required)

1. Craft, Brianna. 2023. Everything that Rises: A Climate Change Memoir. Lawrence Hill Books. ISBM-13: 978-1641608602
2. Khan, Naveeda. 2023. In Quest of a Shared Planet: Negotiating Climate from the Global South