Lectures

information about upcoming and past lectures

Climate Change and International Politics: An Overview

Michal Kolmaš, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague

March 9, 2023: 14.15-15.35 CET

Annotation: The lecture introduces the ongoing processes and sources of climate change and discusses their broad relevance for international relations, both theoretical and empirical.

Suggested readings:
– Hough, Peter (2014): Environmental security. London: Routledge, pages 1-21
– Frank Biermann (2021) The future of ‘environmental’ policy in the Anthropocene: time for a paradigm shift, Environmental Politics, 30:1-2, 61-80, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2020.1846958
– IPCC Sixth Assessment report, summary

Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 378 795 310 235
Passcode: ZMouJ7

The EU as a Normative Power and Climate Change

Mats Braun, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague

April 11, 2023: 15.00-16.20 CET

Annotation: The lecture discusses if the EU is an international leader in climate change mitigation. In the lecture, the EU’s approach is viewed and discussed with a starting point in Ian Manners’s concept of ‘normative power Europe’.

Suggested readings:
– Oberthür, Sebastian & Claire Dupont (2021) The European Union’s international climate leadership: towards a grand climate strategy?, Journal of European Public Policy, 28:7, 1095-1114, DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2021.1918218
– Braun, Mats (2014) EU climate norms in east-central Europe, Journal of Common Mark Studies JCMS, 52:3, 445-460. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12101

Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 325 392 894 815
Passcode: mXKX7P

Global Governance of Climate Change – Paris Agreement and its Implementation (2015-2023)

Michal Kolmaš, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague

April 13, 2023: 14.15-15.35 CET

Annotation: The lecture introduces the Paris Agreement, and shows how it has been implemented since 2015. It briefly discusses other Conference of Parties after Paris, and looks most closely on Glasgow (2021) and Sharm el-Sheikh (2022).

Suggested readings:
Falkner, Robert (2016): The Paris Agreement and the new logic of international climate talks, International Affairs, 92:5, pp. 1107-1125
Hohne et al (2016): The Paris Agreement: resolving the inconsistency between global goals and national contributions, Climate Policy, 17:1, pp. 16-32

Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 389 108 060 736
Passcode: 8mydxE

The Politics of EU Climate Change

Mats Braun, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague

May 2, 2023: 15.00-16.20 CET

Annotation: What are the main lines of political contestation over EU climate issues? Is there an East-West divide within the EU on issues related to sustainable development? Can the EU’s work on climate change mitigation increase the organization’s political legitimacy? The lecture addresses the questions and takes a starting point in the concept of Europeanization and how different member states have responded and contributed to EU policymaking in the field. 

Suggested readings:
– von Homeyer, Ingvar, Sebastian Oberthür & Andrew J. Jordan (2021) EU climate and energy governance in times of crisis: towards a new agenda, Journal of European Public Policy, 28:7, 959-979, DOI: 10.1080/13501763.2021.1918221
Braun, Mats (2016) Europeanization of Environmental Policy in the New Europe -Beyond Conditionality, Routledge, chapter 6

Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 334 762 492 955
Passcode: pytKpM

How does the War in Ukraine affect EU climate mitigation policy?

Mats Braun, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague
Oleksandra Kovalevska, Ph.D. candidate at Metropolitan University Prague

May 9, 2023: 15.00-16.20 CET

Annotation: We will discuss the EU’s responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and how the war affects the European Union and its climate policy. In response to the war, Ukraine has been granted EU candidate country status and several sanctions packages against Russia and Belarus have been approved. Moreover, before the EU was the largest importer of natural gas and crude oil from Russia and the war has increased the speed of the EU’s transition to renewable energy. During the seminar, we will address the following questions: How has the war in Ukraine changed the EU? What are the impacts of the war on the EU’s climate agenda? 

Suggested readings:
Kuzemko, C., Blondeel, M., Dupont, C., & Brisbois, M. C. (2022). Russia’s war on Ukraine, European energy policy responses & implications for sustainable transformations. Energy Research & Social Science93, 102842

Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 393 573 804 124
Passcode: T7pyyR

The EU and the Global Climate Challenge

Mats Braun, Associate Professor, Metropolitan University Prague
Oleksandra Kovalevska, Ph.D. candidate at Metropolitan University Prague

May 15, 2023: 13.30-14.50 CET

Annotation: This session introduces the EU’s work on sustainability and climate change for students at the bachelor level. During the lecture, we also approach the topic of Europeanization and the member states’ divergent interests when it comes to issues linked to energy and sustainable development.