In Search of Climate Politics

Description

In what ways is climate change political? This book addresses this key - but oddly neglected - question. It argues that in order to answer it we need to understand politics in a three-fold way: as a site of authoritative, public decision-making; as a question of power; and as a conflictual phenomenon. Recurring themes center on de- and re-politicization, and a tension between attempts to simplify climate change to a single problem and its intrinsic complexity. These dynamics are driven by processes of capital accumulation and their associated subjectivities. The book explores these arguments through an analysis of a specific city - Ottawa - which acts as a microcosm of these broader processes. It provides detailed analyses of conflicts over urban planning, transport, and attempts by city government and other institutions to address climate change. The book will be valuable for students and researches looking at the politics of climate change.

Matthew Paterson is Professor of International Politics in the Department of Politics at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on the political economy, global governance, and cultural politics of climate change. His books include the Global Warming and Global Politics (1996), Climate Capitalism (with Peter Newell, 2010, Cambridge) and the prize-winning Automobile Politics: Ecology and Cultural Political Economy (2007, Cambridge). He was a Lead Author for the 2014 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).