Others Publications

The entanglement of climate change in north-south relations: stumbling blocks and opportunities for negotiation

Hernandez, Ariel / Ariel Penetrante
External Publications (2011)

in: Katherine Richardson / Steffen Will / Diane Liverman (eds.), Climate change: global risks, challenges and decisions, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 356-359

ISBN: 978-0-521-19836-3
Information

Politicians have observed regularly in recent years that climate change first emerged as an 'environmental' issue, which later became reconceptualised as an 'economic' issue, and is now perceived as a 'security' issue. What exactly this means is not always clear - notably whether it means that climate change can cause violent conflicts or that climate change as such is the biggest threat humankind faces. Nevertheless, this transformation in the perception of climate change carries with it the unmistakeable message that the importance of climate change has moved up some kind of ladder of politicisation. Climate change is not a technical issue, but a political one - and it belongs to the category of 'high politics' in that it affects the survival of the state (as opposed to 'low politics', which deal with more mundane or practical issues.