300461 "Threat Multiplier"? Climate Change and Security (World Politics II) (S) (WiSe 2025/2026)

For many years, climate change has been recognised as a security concern, prompting debates about “climate security” in foreign, defence and security politics. However, the recent backlash against climate politics and the renewed focus on seemingly more urgent security threats appear to have diminished policy attention not only on the climate crisis as a whole but also on issues such as climate security.
At this turning point, this seminar provides students with the opportunity to explore the intersection of climate change and security.

It addresses questions such as:

- What is climate security and why is it important?
- What kinds of security discourses are involved?
- What specific threats does climate change pose to different actors?
- What measures can be taken to promote climate security?
- Who is capable of and/or responsible for ensuring climate security?

The aim of the seminar is to enable students to analyse, explain, and assess the climate-security nexus from both theoretical (i.e., securitisation, militarisation, and climatization) and empirical (i.e., conflict, migration, militaries) perspectives.