In 2015, PS: Political Science and Politics published Robert O. Keohane’s James Madison Lecture* in which Keohane tasked political scientists with contributing to the developing knowledge on climate change. He called for a focus on creatively thinking about reframing issues of climate change, adopting a comparative approach to studying it, studying how emotions shape opinions toward it and framing climate change as an adaptation problem. While political science studies published since 2014 have made some headway in addressing these subtopics and others, the US and global discourse on climate change has moved past recognizing and mitigating climate change and towards studying the multifaceted ways it affects our domestic and foreign policies, migration patterns, receptivity to climate migrants, levels of democratic governance, the development of environmental injustices and the most vulnerable populations as well as its differing effects in the Global North and South. Political science has much to contribute to the national and global discourse surrounding these topics. This Call for Papers on “Climate Change and Vulnerable Populations” seeks to bridge the current discourse with empirical and theoretical research.
The objectives of this special issue are to:
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• place vulnerable populations (such as class, race, gender, religious identity) at the center of our discourse on climate change and its effects;
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• advance public policy research on the effectiveness of policies, programs or practices that address the disparate effects that climate change is taking on the most vulnerable;
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• serve as a catalyst for more comparative studies on responses to climate change crises;
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• recognize the differential impact climate change has on different global regions;
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• bridge research on climate change with that of authoritarianism;
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• expand research on public opinion on climate migration and migrants;
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• develop our knowledge of the relation between environmental injustices and climate;
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• examine how ethics are related to climate change topics.
We are interested in article-length original research submissions for this special issue that address one or more of these objectives. Examples of submissions might include papers that examine:
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• the varied effects that recent extreme weather events have had on residents in the U.S. or abroad;
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• perspectives toward assisting vulnerable populations impacted by climate crises;
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• how vulnerable populations navigate climate crises;
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• government policies and practices that perpetuate a cycle of oppression when deciding how to address the effects of climate change;
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• how and why some communities and peoples are disproportionately exposed to and affected by climate threats;
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• how and why countries respond to climate crises differently;
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• the extent that climate crises foment and perpetuate environmental injustices (e.g., racial disparities in exposure to water or air pollution);
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• ethical dilemmas presented with emerging climate crises;
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• the relationship between authoritarianism and government response to climate crises.
Contributions must be submitted to PS via Editorial Manager on or before June 30, 2023.
Accepted manuscripts will be published on First View as they are completed, but will be published together in a special issue.
To Submit: Submit manuscripts through the online system at: www.editorialmanager.com/ps.
Length: Manuscripts must be fewer than 4,000 words, including notes and references.
Style, Format, References: Manuscripts must be submitted in Word, should include in-text citations that correspond with endnotes and references conforming to the Style Manual (Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition). An online appendix can be uploaded for supplementary and supporting material.
*Keohane, R. (2015). The Global Politics of Climate Change: Challenge for Political Science. PS: Political Science & Politics, 48(1), 19-26. doi:10.1017/S1049096514001541
