About us
The Chair of Globalization and Climate Governance focuses on policies, discourses, transformations and conflicts of climate governance. Our theoretical approach is informed by critical governance research and global environmental governance, debates on climate and energy justice, postcolonial studies, international political economy and development anthropology.
Three major research topics currently determine our work:
- Within the framework of the BMBF research group "GLOCALPOWER" (University of Hamburg and University of Kassel), our team explores governance and the political economy of African energy transitions with case studies in Ghana, Zambia, and South Africa. We especially aim at identifying the shape and structure of just energy transitions.
- Postcolonial climate governance – a newly emerging field of global environmental governance – is relevant for our research with regard to REDD+ programs and political cooperation at the energy/development nexus. We explore modes of governance, resilience, strategies of subjectification and the ‘discovery’ of the subaltern.
- Research on the Anthropocene and its challenges for theories of international relations is the third and more abstract pillar of our research.
In our seminars we focus on global climate governance and energy governance, as well as on debates about climate justice and fair transformation. We seek to deepen this knowledge in courses on green finance, the Anthropocene and green governmentality.