Climate Change and Order ― The End of Prosperity and Democracy

In pursuing international order, prosperity and democracy, politics and political decision-making have contributed to global climate change issues. Solutions need to be found that go beyond finding cleaner, newer technologies, revised policies and laws to curb pollution and carbon production, protecting species and habitats, or remembering to turn off the lights and put out the recycling. They need to re-imagine how our rich and complex ways of life are interconnected with the natural environment. Edmondson and Levy set out to increase understanding of why it takes so long for governments and others to agree on how to respond to the challenges of global climate change, and why it is important for them to continue to try to do so. They examine why it is so difficult for the international community to respond to global climate change. In doing so, they analyse and explain some of the strategies that might ultimately provide the foundations for appropriate responses.

Beth Edmondson is Senior Lecturer at Monash University, Australia. She has over 20 years of experience teaching, researching and publishing in environmental politics and international relations. She has previously published on international responses to global climate change, governmental capacities, international relations, teaching practices and interpersonal communication.

Stuart Levy is Director of the Diploma of Tertiary Studies at Monash University, Australia. He has interests in international relations, the nature and evolution of state sovereignty, the politics of global climate change and access and equity issues in higher education.