Special Topics Seminar (395-0-1)

Topic

Politics of the U.S. Energy Transition

Instructors

Elizabeth L Thom

Meeting Info

Fisk Hall 114: Mon, Wed 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

Politics of the U.S. Energy Transition

Climate change threatens to permanently alter and disrupt weather patterns, ecosystems, food sources, economic production, commerce, and migration. One way to mitigate these harmful effects is to reduce our reliance on the energy sources that contribute most to global warming. In this research seminar, students will examine the challenges and opportunities of transitioning energy production and consumption away from fossil fuels and toward lower-carbon alternatives in the United States. What are the concrete goals of the clean energy transition? What policy tools can be used to achieve them? What political obstacles does the transition face? How can we address the economic, social, and political consequences of its success or failure? Students will explore these questions by reading and applying key theories from political science and economics, as well as consulting policy reports, case studies, and news articles. The course will also teach students how to design, develop, and write a political science research paper. Our class time will be divided into substantive and research design sessions to guide students toward producing original research, presenting findings, and drafting a final paper on a topic related to the energy transition.

Learning Objectives

There are five main learning objectives for the course. By the end of the quarter, students should be able to:

1. Identify the major goals of the energy transition and explain how different energy sources and constituencies will be impacted by it.
2. Describe and analyze the opportunities and challenges for decarbonizing the energy system given the structure of the American political system.
3. Assess and critique the different policy tools used in the past and present to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.
4. Evaluate pathways for policymakers to address the adverse effects of the energy transition on firms, workers, and communities.
5. Develop and draft an original research paper grounded in principles of social science research design. This involves formulating a novel research question and argument; reading and synthesizing prior literature; collecting and analyzing data; organizing findings and writing them up succinctly and clearly; and presenting the research to others.

Evaluation Method

Weekly written assignments building up to a final research paper.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression