Debra Javeline

Associate Professor of Political Science

Few political scientists study climate change "adaptation" — efforts to reduce vulnerability to climate change. Yet adapting to climate change is fundamentally political, raising questions about political economy (adaptation costs money), political theory (adaptation involves questions of social justice), comparative politics (some countries  pursue adaptation more aggressively than others), urban politics (some cities pursue adaptation more aggressively than others), regime type (democracies and authoritarian regimes may differ in the way they pursue adaptation), federalism (different levels of government may be involved), and many other issues.

In this presentation, Javeline will review the field of climate change adaptation, explore the contributions political scientists could make to climate change adaptation, call on political scientists to begin conducting adaptation research, and offer a primer on how they may do so.

Debra Javeline's wide-ranging research includes a focus on the politics of climate change adaptation. She is collaborating with biologists, computer scientists, and other faculty affiliates of the Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative on a major interdisciplinary project on adaptation to climate change funded by the National Science Foundation, the Provost's Strategic Academic Planning Committee, the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, and the College of Science.

Sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

Co-sponsored by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.