Reading Assignments
Note: Here are three websites that you should find helpful as we progress through the semester.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - - the leading global source of information about climate change - - www.ipcc.ch
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - - go to the EPA's website at: www.epa.gov/ then click "Learn the Issues" and then click "Climate Change." You will find a variety of interesting and helpful links.
- European Environment Agency - - go to the EEA's website at: www.eea.europa.eu/ where you will find additional important and informative links.
January 12 - - Introduction: Conceptualizing the Comparative Politics of Climate Change
Required Reading:
Dessler and Parson, Ch. 1
Harrison and Sundstrom, Ch. 1
Sussman and Daynes, Ch. 1
Weart, Ch.1-3
Recommended Reading:
Anthony Giddens, The Politics of Climate Change, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2011).
Matthew Hoffmann, Ozone Depletion and Climate Change: Constructing a Global Response (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005).
Ben Lieberman and Nicholas Loris, "Five Reasons the EPA Should Not Attempt to Deal with Global Warming," Heritage Foundation, April 23, 2009, www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm2407.cfm.
Burton Richter, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Climate Change and Energy in the 21st Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).
David Shearman and Joseph Wayne Smith, The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy (Westport: Praeger, 2007).
Paul F. Steinberg and Stacy D. VanDeveer, "Bridging Archipelagos: Connecting Comparative Politics and Environmental Politics," in Paul Steinberg and Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds., Comparative Environmental Politics (Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2012).
World Bank, "Public Attitudes Toward Climate Change: Findings from a Multi--Country Poll," in World Development Report 2010, Washington, DC, 2010.
January 19 - - State of the Planet and Extreme Weather: The Problems, Perils, Risks
Required Reading:
Environment America, http://www.environmentamerica.org/sites/environment/files/reports/In%20the%20Path%20of%20the%20Storm-2013.pdf pp. 25-37.
Recommended Reading:
James Gustave Speth, Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2005).
Michael H. Glantz, Climate Affairs (Washington: Island Press, 2003).
Council on Environmental Quality and US State Department, The Global 2000 Report to the President (New York: Penguin, 1982), pp. 51-65, 256-269.
NASA site: http://climate.nasa.gov/effects.
Orrin Pilkey, and Rob Young, The Rising Sea (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2009).
January 26 - - Science, Politics, and Climate Change
Required Reading:
Desler and Parson, Ch. 2 and 3
Sussman and Daynes, Ch. 2
Weart, Ch. 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9
Recommended Reading:
Erik Conway, Atmospheric Science at NASA (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008).
Kerry Emanuel, What We Know About Climate Change, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2012).
James E. Hansen, "The Greenhouse Effect: Impacts on Current Global Temperature and Regional Heat Waves," in Dean Edwin Abrahamson, ed., The Challenge of Global Warming (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1989).
Neil Harrison, "Political Responses to Changing Uncertainty in Climate Science," in Neil Harrison and Gary Bryner, eds., Science and Politics in the International Environment (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2004).
Mike Hulme, Why We Disagree About Climate Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Stephen H. Schneider, Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate (Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2009).
Marvin Soross, "Science and International Climate Change Policy," in Neil Harrison and Gary Bryner, eds., Science and Politics in the International Environment (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2004).
Cass R. Sundstein, "Of Montreal and Kyoto: A Tale of Two Proposals," Harvard Environmental Law Review 31 no. 1 (2007).
Glen Sussman, "The Science and Politics Problem: Policymaking, Climate Change, and Hurricanes," in James Elsner and Thomas Jagger, eds., Hurricanes and Climate Change (New York: Springer, 2009)
February 2 - - The United States
Required Reading:
Harrison and Sundstrom, Ch. 3
Sussman and Daynes, Ch. 3-7
Recommended Reading:
Gary Bryner, "Failure and Opportunity: Environmental Groups in US Climate Change Policy," Environmental Politics 17 (April 2008).
Byron W. Daynes and Glen Sussman, "Global Warming: Environmental Crisis or Scientific Hoax," in Raymond Tatalovich and Byron W. Daynes, eds. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2011).
Peter Jacques, Riley Dunlap, and Mark Freeman, "The Organization of Denial: Conservative Think Tanks and Environmental Skepticism," Environmental Politics 17 (June 2008).
Steven Kolmes, "Climate Change: A Disinformation Campaign, Environment 53 (July-August 2011).
Barry G. Rabe, Statehouse and Greenhouse: The Emerging Politics of American Climate Change Policy (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2004)
Barry G. Rabe, ed. Greenhouse Governance: Addressing Climate Change in America (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2010).
Diane Rahm, Climate Change Policy in the United States: The Science, the Politics and the Prospects for Change (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Publishers, 2010).
February 9 - - Australia, Canada, UK, EU
Required Reading:
Harrison and Sundstrom, Ch. 2, 6, 7
Recommended Reading:
Glen Sussman and Byron W. Daynes, "Political Responses to Climate Change in the USA and Canada," in the 16th edition of The USA and Canada, (Routledge, Europa Regional Surveys Series, 2016) (http://www.europaworld.com/entry/usac.essay.4)
Loren Cass, The Failures of American and European Climate Policy (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006).
Kate Crowley, "Is Australia Faking It? The Kyoto Protocol and the Greenhouse Policy Challenge," Global Environmental Politics 7 (November 2007).
Kathryn Harrison, "The Road Not Taken: Climate Change Policy in Canada and the United States," Global Environmental Politics 7 (November 2007).
Andrew Jordan, Dave Huitema, Harro Van Asselt, eds., Climate Change Policy in the European Union (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
Peter J. Stoett, "Looking for Leadership: Canada and Climate Change Policy," in Henrik Selin and Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds., Changing Climates in North American Politics (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2009).
Miranda Schreurs, "The Climate Change Divide: the European Union, the United States, and the Future of the Kyoto Protocol," in Norman Vig and Michael Faure, eds., Green Giants: Environmental Policies of the United States and European Union (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004).
Akhila Vijayaraghavan, "Climate Leadership Continues in the European Union," Environmental News Network, March 21, 2012, www.enn.com/wildlife/article/44160/print.
February 16 - - Research Design Presentations
February 23 - - China, India, Japan, Russia
Required Reading:
Harrison and Sundstrom, Ch. 4, 5, 8
Recommended Reading:
Gary Bryner, "Integrating Development and Environment: Global Climate Change Policies and the Less Developed Countries," in David Feldman, ed., Global Climate Change and Public Policy (Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1994).
Laura Henry and Lisa Sundstrom, "Russia and the Kyoto Protocol: Seeking an Alignment of Interests and Image," Global Environmental Politics 7 (November 2007).
Philip Stallley, "Forum: Principled Strategy: The Role of Equity Norms in China's Climate Change Diplomacy," Global Environmental Politics 13 (February 2013).
Yves Tiberghien and Miranda Schreurs, "High Noon in Japan: Embedded Symbolism and Post-2001 Kyoto Protocol Politics," Global Environmental Politics 7 (November 2007).
March 1 - - Comparative Evaluation of Eight Countries and the EU
March 7-11 - - Spring Break
March 15 - - Guest Speaker: TBA
March 22 - - Round Table: Adaptation and Mitigation
Required Reading:
Dessler and Parson, Ch. 4
Recommended Reading:
Frank Biermann, Philip Pattberg, Fariborz Zelli, eds., Global Climate Governance Beyond 2012 (Cambridge University Press, 2012).
Ronald D. Brunner and Amanda H. Lynch, Adaptive Governance and Climate Change (Boston: American Meteorological Society, 2010).
Committee on America's Climate Choices, Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change (Washington DC: The National Academies Press, 2010). pp.17-24.
Johannes Urpelainen, "Global Warming, Irreversibility, and Uncertainty: A Political Analysis," Global Environmental Politics 12 (November 2012).
March 29, April 5, April 12 - - Research Paper Presentations
April 19 - - Conclusion: Prospects for the Future / Submission of the Research Paper
Required Reading:
Desler and Parson, Ch. 5
Harrison and Sundstrom, Ch. 9
Mastrandrea and Schneider, Entire Book
Sussman and Daynes, Ch. 8
Recommended Reading:
Mike Hulme, Can Science Fix Climate Change? (Polity, 2014).
Committee on America's Climate Choices, Advancing the Science of Climate Change (Washington DC: The National Academies Press, 2010). pp.3-15.
Mark Maslin, Global Warming, New ed. (Oxford: Oxford Press, 2009).
Daniel Perlmutter and Robert Rothstein, The Challenge of Climate Change (Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), Ch. 10 and 11.
