Since it first appeared, this book has achieved a classic status. Reprinted
many times since its publication, it remains the only work that looks in detail at the
political issues posed by global warming. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and
provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the most formidable challenge humanity faces
this century.
If climate change goes unchecked, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic for
human life on earth. Yet for most people and for many policy-makers too, it tends to be a
back-of-the-mind issue. We recognize its importance and even its urgency, but for the most
part it is swamped by more immediate concerns.
Political action and intervention on local, national and international levels
are going to have a decisive effect on whether or not we can limit global warming as well
as how we adapt to that already occurring. However, at the moment, argues Giddens, we do
not have a systematic politics of climate change. Politics-as-usual won't allow us to deal
with the problems we face, while the recipes of the main challenger to orthodox politics,
the green movement, are flawed at source. Giddens introduces a range of new concepts and
proposals to fill in the gap, and examines in depth the connections between climate change
and energy security.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Climate Change, Risk and Danger
2 Running Out, Running Down?
3 The Greens and After
4 The Track Record So Far
5 A Return to Planning?
6 Technologies and Taxes
7 The Politics of Adaptation
8 International Negotiations, the EU and Carbon Markets
9 The Geopolitics of Climate Change
Afterword
Notes
References
Index
272 pages, Paperback