Welcome: Mickael Buffart, House of Innovation, Stockholm School of Economics
Keynote Speaker: Carola Klöck, SciencesPo

Abstract: While UN negotiations, such as those on climate change, take place between formally equal Parties, they are de facto highly unequal. Small states in particular struggle to fully engage, given that they can send only small delegations. Yet, there are certain compensation mechanisms for small states; this presentation presents two approaches. First, cooperation through coalitions is a key strategy for small states, though not all small states work through coalitions. Second, the presentation argues that we need to look beyond delegation size and also consider delegation composition, i.e., understand who represents and negotiates for small states. 

About the speaker: Carola Klöck is Assistant Professor of Political Science at SciencesPo in France. Before coming to Sciences Po in 2018, Carola held positions at the Universities of Gothenburg, Antwerp and Göttingen, and obtained her PhD from ETH Zurich in 2013 and her habilitation (venia legend) from the University of Göttingen. Her research is located at the interface of political science, human geography and development studies, and examines adaptation to climate change, and the politics of climate change more generally. At the moment, Carola analyses how adaptation finance is distributed as well as how this finance is used on the ground, with a specific interest in island contexts, notably small island developing states. Carola is a co-author of Development Aid and Adaptation to Climate Change (London, Palgrave, 2018 ; with Florian Weiler) and co-edits a volume on adaptation in small island states that results from a workshop she has co-organised with funding from the Volkswagen Foundation (with Michael Fink).

This seminar will be available in hybrid form to colleagues across the CIVICA network. To attend online, please register here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

To attend in person at the Stockholm School of Economics, please email Jelena.Angelis@hhs.se.

The event is organised in the framework of CIVICA – The European University of Social Sciences. CIVICA brings together ten leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences to build an inter-university campus that provides joint and long-lasting opportunities in teaching, research and innovative learning, while enhancing academic excellence and facilitating civic engagement in Europe and beyond. CIVICA was selected by the European Commission as one of the pilot European Universities in 2019 and confirmed as successful alliance in 2022 for its full roll-out under the Erasmus+ programme. Read more on civica.eu.