Global Climate Change Negotiations: Bridging the North-South Divide

Alex Thompson, Associate Professor, OSU Department of Political Science, will present 'Global Climate Change Negotiations: Bridging the North-South Divide' in 219 Ag. Eng. Bldg and the FABE conference room in Wooster. This seminar is open to everyone who wants to attend.

Since the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, states have struggled to negotiate a robust global regime to manage climate change.  Many of the most important obstacles have resulted from differences between developed and developing countries, whose governments have different priorities when it comes to sustainability and environmental concerns.  This talk will outline some of these differences and explain how they have shaped climate agreements over time. This will include an analysis of the recent UN Conference of the Parties in Paris and its implications for achieving a global grand bargain to tackle climate change.  
 
Alexander Thompson is Associate Professor of Political Science and a Faculty Associate of the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at Ohio State University.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.  Dr. Thompson’s research is in the area of international relations, with an emphasis on the politics of international organizations and law.  His book, Channels of Power: The UN Security Council and U.S. Statecraft in Iraq (Cornell University Press, 2009), won the International Studies Association’s Chadwick Alger Prize and the J. David Singer Book Award.  His articles have appeared in various journals, including International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Conflict Resolution, the Journal of Legal Studies, the European Journal of International Relations, and Climatic Change.  Much of his current research addresses the design and evolution of global climate institutions.