ACADEMIC YEAR 2024-25

Academic year 2024-2025, Fall (5th and 7th) semester

 Instructors: Professor Emmanuela Doussis, Dr. George Dikaios

Course Description

When and why did the international community decide to address the issue of climate change? How were international, European and national regulations on this issue shaped and evolved? Which stakeholders are involved and in what way in tackling the problem? How are negotiations progressing? Why do we study climate diplomacy as an autonomous subject?

The aim of the course is to understand the formation and evolution of the international, European and national system to address climate change through the structures of diplomacy. The first part explores the role of science in the development and evolution of international, European and national regulations and policies to mitigate the climate crisis. The second part focuses on specific aspects of international and European diplomacy in relation to climate change and examines practices of applying climate diplomacy outside traditional channels.

Apart from the lectures, the course includes a seminar hour, during which practical issues and methodological questions to approach climate diplomacy are discussed. Students are required to prepare policy papers.

Content of the lectures

• The role of diplomacy in curbing the climate crisis.
• What is the problem of climate change? Public perceptions and political ideology.
• The international system to address climate change: from Rio (1992) to Kyoto (1997) and Paris (2015).
• The international system to address climate change: the Paris Agreement and implementation challenges.
• The science of climate change.
• Diplomatic theory and climate change. Examples from international transport organizations.
• The European framework to tackle climate change.
• The political economy of climate change.
• Energy communities: practical applications to tackle climate change.
• Climate change in Greece.
• Specific issues of climate policy and diplomacy