Energy Geopolitics Course

Course Philosophy

Three core principles guide this curriculum and establish its analytical boundaries:

• Material Foundations: Physical geography, resource endowments, and infrastructural configurations fundamentally shape state strategies, institutional arrangements, and systemic vulnerabilities.

• Analytical Pluralism: No single theoretical framework fully captures the complexity of global energy politics; each perspective reveals specific structural or commercial dynamics while obscuring alternative explanations.

• Epistemological Reflexivity: Energy security analysis is inevitably embedded within distinct historical, geographical, and strategic contexts, reflecting the material anxieties and normative assumptions of its origin.

Energy is one of the organising principles of international order, a source of state power and state vulnerability, a driver of conflict and cooperation, and an increasingly contested terrain of geopolitical rivalry. This course examines the relationship between energy systems and world politics through the sustained study of two strategic regions — Eurasia and Africa — while situating regional developments within the transformations reshaping the global order: the accelerating energy transition, the rise of critical minerals, the fragmentation of supply chains, and the strategic competition between established and emerging powers.

Energy outcomes are inherently multi-causal. Analytical evaluation must assess not only who benefits from specific infrastructural and market arrangements, but also what a given explanation overlooks, and from whose perspective an issue is framed. This course trains students to investigate energy as an instrument of statecraft and global governance while maintaining a critical awareness of the assumptions underpinning producer and consumer narratives, Global North and Global South perspectives, and hydrocarbon-era versus transition-era strategic logics.

MODULE I – Foundations of Energy Geopolitics

Week 1: Energy as Power and Vulnerability

Week 2: Theoretical Approaches to Energy Geopolitics

MODULE II – Hydrocarbon Geopolitics and Traditional Power Structures

Week 3: Oil Markets, Petrostates, and Resource Power

Week 4: Pipeline Politics and Critical Infrastructure

Week 5: Natural Gas, LNG, and the Globalisation of Gas Markets

MODULE III – The New Geopolitics of the Energy Transition

Week 6: Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Dependencies

Week 7: Renewables, Electricity Grids, and Technological Power

Week 8: Managing Import Vulnerability: The Strategies of Major Importers

MODULE IV – Regional Theatres and Great Power Energy Strategies

Week 9: The Gulf, OPEC+, and Middle East Energy Geopolitics

Week 10: Russia, Central Asia, and Eurasian Energy Corridors

Week 11: China’s Global Energy Strategy and the Belt and Road Initiative

Week 12: Geopolitical Futures of Energy Transition and Climate Security

Every week of this 12-week course is structured around four distinct learning pillars to ensure you build theoretical knowledge, practical skills, and critical awareness:

• Lecture: Core concepts, theoretical frameworks, and key debates.

• Workshop: Application of concepts to real-world empirical cases.

• Analytical Lab: Hands-on methodological training and data analysis.

• Reflexive Question: A direct challenge designed to unpack hidden systemic assumptions.

Deep Thinking

• What energy event, decision, or disruption occurred, and what are the verifiable facts about the resources, infrastructure, market structures, and physical geography involved? (Empirical baseline)

• Which state, corporate, or institutional actor controlled the decision, and what was their structural position in the energy value chain (producer, consumer, transit jurisdiction, or financial intermediary) and how did that position shape their available choices? (Agential mapping)

• Which theoretical framework (realist resource mercantilism, geoeconomics, liberal institutionalism, critical political economy, or postcolonial critique of extraction and dependency) best explains the energy dynamic at issue, and what assumptions does it make about markets, geography, and power? (Theoretical application)

• What does this explanation fail to account for — whose energy interests are rendered invisible, which transition dynamics are suppressed, or what alternative conceptions of energy security are excluded from the dominant framing? (Analytical limitation)

• How does this event look from the perspective of a producing state, a transit jurisdiction, or a resource-dependent Global South economy and what does that perspective reveal about whose understanding of energy security has been treated as universal? (Reflexive critique)

Learning Outcomes

• Apply multi-causal, multi-theoretical analysis to energy politics: Examine energy security disputes by integrating geographical, technological, macroeconomic, and political-institutional variables, and evaluate competing frameworks (realist resource mercantilism, geoeconomics, liberal institutionalism, and postcolonial critique of extraction) while clearly articulating the explanatory strengths and limits of each.

• Deconstruct primary sources and deploy geoeconomic methodological instruments: Critically evaluate national energy strategies, infrastructure concessions, transit treaties, and corporate disclosures to identify misalignments between rhetorical frameworks and material allocations, and apply supply-chain dependency mapping, maritime chokepoint exposure analysis, and resource-rent tracing to specific empirical cases.

• Practise epistemological reflexivity across producer, consumer, and transition perspectives: Situate contemporary energy discourses within their historical and political contexts, identify the systemic biases embedded in both fossil-fuel security narratives and green transition models, and assess how energy security is defined differently by producing states, consuming states, transit jurisdictions, and resource-dependent Global South economies.

• Produce professional-grade energy risk and strategic foresight assessments: Formulate rigorous, evidence-based policy briefs and scenario-based risk reports that satisfy the five-rule analytical framework and reflect the standards of analysis expected in strategic consultancy and intelligence contexts.

Assesment

Assessment 1: Energy Strategy and Infrastructure Analysis (35% | 2,500 words)
Students select one primary document or case (a national energy strategy, an infrastructure concession agreement, a pipeline treaty, a maritime boundary claim related to resource access, or a corporate energy disclosure) and subject it to a sustained analytical critique structured around the five-rule framework. The analysis must establish the material facts of the case and identify the producing, consuming, transit, or corporate actors involved and their structural position in the energy value chain; deploy at least two competing theoretical frameworks drawn from realist resource mercantilism, geoeconomics, liberal institutionalism, or postcolonial critique of extraction; and apply one methodological instrument from the Analytical Labs, such as supply-chain dependency mapping, chokepoint exposure analysis, or resource-rent tracing, to support the empirical argument. The analysis must conclude by identifying whose conception of energy security is privileged by the dominant framing and whose interests are structurally excluded from it. Submission Deadline: End of Week 7.

Assessment 2: Capstone Energy Risk and Foresight Report (55% | 5,000–6,000 words)
The primary summative assessment for this course is a comprehensive geopolitical risk and strategic foresight report focused on an active contemporary energy challenge or infrastructure flashpoint selected from the approved case list. The report must map the multi-causal drivers of the case across geographic, resource-based, technological, and political-institutional dimensions; construct a data-driven account of the key state and corporate actors and their competing strategic interests; and develop three internally coherent and mutually exclusive scenarios for the global or regional energy order over a 20-year horizon. The analysis must deploy at least two theoretical frameworks explicitly, apply two methodological instruments introduced in the Analytical Labs, and include a dedicated section critiquing Western-centric or fossil-fuel-era assumptions about the case through Global IR or decolonial frameworks. All five rules of the analytical framework must be visible throughout. Submission Deadline: Sunday of Week 14 (Formal Assessment Period, following the conclusion of Week 12 teaching).

Assessment 3: Seminar Participation and Analytical Engagement (10% | Ongoing)
Participation is assessed continuously throughout the semester. Marks reflect the quality and consistency of engagement across three interconnected dimensions: contribution to seminar and workshop discussions, demonstrating the ability to apply theoretical concepts to empirical cases and to challenge competing interpretations with reasoned argument; performance in the weekly Analytical Labs, showing growing proficiency in applying course methodologies to live data and case material; and conduct in simulation and debate exercises, including the willingness to defend positions under adversarial questioning, respond to new evidence, and revise conclusions accordingly. Attendance is a prerequisite for participation credit, but marks are awarded for the quality and intellectual rigour of engagement rather than for the volume of contribution.

Submission, Formatting Requirements and Academic Integrity

• All written work must be submitted as a PDF file, regardless of the word processor used.

• Use font at 12 points Aptos or Arial. Pages must be numbered. Include your name, student number, course name, assignment title, and word count on the first page; a separate cover page is not required.

• The word count stated in the assignment brief is a guide to scope and depth, not a rigid threshold. Work within 10% of the stated count in either direction. The word count covers the main body of the text, including in-text citations, but excludes the reference list, any tables or figures, and any appendices.

• All written work must follow APA 7th edition throughout. In-text citations use the author-date format: (Yergin, 2020) or Yergin (2020) argues that… For direct quotations, include the page number: (Yergin, 2020, p. 47). The reference list appears at the end of the document, ordered alphabetically by surname. Do not use footnotes for references; footnotes may be used sparingly for substantive clarifications that would otherwise interrupt the argument.

• Formal policies on academic integrity and the use of AI tools vary by institution and will be communicated where applicable. The question beneath those policies does not change: Is the goal to understand, or simply to appear to have understood? A qualification obtained without the knowledge it is meant to represent is a transaction, not an education, and it shortchanges the holder as much as anyone else. I invest genuine effort in connecting students to scholarship, practitioners, and professional networks that extend well beyond any syllabus. Whether that investment meets a reciprocal commitment is, in the end, a question of character rather than compliance.

Literature

• Balmaceda, M. M. (2021). Russian energy chains: The remaking of technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union. Columbia University Press.

• Epstein, A. (2022). Fossil future: Why global human flourishing requires more oil, coal, and natural gas – not less. Portfolio.

• Gustafson, T. (2021). Klimat: Russia in the age of climate change. Harvard University Press.

• Högselius, P. (2019). Energy and geopolitics. Routledge.

• Scholten, D. (Ed.). (2023). Handbook on the geopolitics of the energy transition. Edward Elgar Publishing.

• Sivaram, V. (2018). Taming the sun: Innovations to harness solar energy and power the planet. MIT Press.

• Smil, V. (2017). Energy and civilization: A history (2nd ed.). MIT Press.

• Yergin, D. (2020). The new map: Energy, climate, and the clash of nations. Penguin.

Research articles do not appear in the bibliography above. This is intentional. Each week, students are expected to identify a peer-reviewed article relevant to that week’s topic, bring it to the seminar, and share it with the group. The lecturer contributes selections alongside the class. This practice develops independent literature-searching habits, exposes the seminar to a wider range of scholarly perspectives than any fixed reading list could provide, and keeps the course in sustained contact with current debates in the field.

Course Structure and Content

MODULE I – Foundations of Energy Geopolitics

Week 1: Energy as Power and Vulnerability

Core Question: Why does control over energy resources remain an enduring source of state power and systemic vulnerability in the international system?

Topics: Concepts and definitions of energy security; the historical evolution of global energy systems; strategic dependence versus structural power; energy infrastructure as a mechanism of statecraft and a target of disruption.

Analytical Lab: Application of the five-rule framework to a historical energy supply disruption (e.g., the 1973 oil embargo or the 2022 European pipeline supply reductions).

Reflexive Question: How do definitions of energy security diverge between major producer states, consumer nations, and transit jurisdictions?

Additional Literature 

• Dodds, K. (2019). Geopolitics: A very short introduction (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

• Flint, C. (2021). Introduction to geopolitics (4th ed.). Routledge.

• Kaplan, R. D. (2012). The revenge of geography: What the map tells us about coming conflicts and the battle against fate. Random House.

• Smil, V. (2017). Energy and civilization: A history. MIT Press.

• Van de Graaf, T., & Sovacool, B. K. (2020). Global energy politics. Polity.

Week 2: Theoretical Approaches to Energy Geopolitics

Core Question: How do alternative theoretical traditions conceptualise the relationship between energy resources and international power?

Topics: Realist resource mercantilism; liberal institutionalism and global energy governance; weaponised interdependence; critical, post-structural, and postcolonial perspectives on extraction and global value chains.

Analytical Lab: Comparative evaluation of two distinct theoretical lenses applied to a single case of resource statecraft.

Reflexive Question: What unstated assumptions regarding open markets, geographical neutrality, and state sovereignty are concealed by traditional theoretical models?

MODULE II – Hydrocarbon Geopolitics and Traditional Power Structures

Week 3: Oil Markets, Petrostates, and Resource Power

Core Question: To what extent do global oil markets and petrostates continue to shape international political and economic outcomes?

Topics: OPEC+ market management and quota coordination; the political economy of rentier states; the utility and limitations of oil as a coercive foreign policy tool; price volatility, financialization, and strategic stockpiling.

Analytical Lab: Strategic assessment of a recent OPEC+ production quota decision or Saudi–Russian market coordination using the five-rule framework.

Reflexive Question: Do abundant hydrocarbon endowments grant durable structural power, or do they generate institutional dependencies and long-term vulnerabilities?

Additional Literature 

• Belyi, A. V., & Talus, K. (Eds.). (2015). States and markets in hydrocarbon sectors. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Colgan, J. D. (2013). Petro-aggression: When oil causes war. Cambridge University Press.

• Krane, J. (2019). Energy kingdoms: Oil and political survival in the Persian Gulf. Columbia University Press.

• Ross, M. L. (2012). The oil curse: How petroleum wealth shapes the development of nations. Princeton University Press.

• Yergin, D. (2020). The new map: Energy, climate, and the clash of nations. Penguin.

Week 4: Pipeline Politics and Critical Infrastructure

Core Question: How do fixed pipeline networks function as mechanisms of strategic leverage and asymmetric vulnerability?

Topics: Major Eurasian pipeline architecture; the technopolitics and security of Nord Stream, TurkStream, and the Power of Siberia; transit state dilemmas and the concept of transit rent extraction.

Analytical Lab: Spatial and geopolitical risk mapping of a major transnational pipeline route utilizing open-source infrastructural data.

Reflexive Question: Whose interests are prioritized by the intense securitisation of fixed energy infrastructure corridors, and which dynamics are marginalized?

Additional Literature 

• Balmaceda, M. M. (2021). Russian energy chains: The remaking of technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union. Columbia University Press.

• Hanieh, A. (2025). Crude capitalism. Verso.

• Högselius, P. (2012). Red gas: Russia and the origins of European energy dependence. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Miesner, T. O., & Leffler, W. L. (2020). Oil and gas pipelines in nontechnical language (2nd ed.). PennWell.

Week 5: Natural Gas, LNG, and the Globalisation of Gas Markets

Core Question: How has the expansion of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) altered regional energy dependencies and traditional gas diplomacy?

Topics: LNG transport infrastructure, liquefaction technology, and flexible contracting mechanisms; the export growth of the United States, Qatar, and Australia; Europe's post-2022 structural supply diversification.

Analytical Lab: Quantitative tracking of structural shifts in regional natural gas import profiles using international customs data and shipping registers.

Reflexive Question: Does increased spot-market liquidity mitigate geopolitical risk, or does it shift resource vulnerability onto a broader, globalized maritime network?

Additional Literature 

• Blanchard, C. (2021). Extraction state: A history of natural gas in America. University of Pittsburgh Press.

• Grigas, A. (2017). The new geopolitics of natural gas. Harvard University Press.

• Gustafson, T. (2020). The bridge: Natural gas in a redivided Europe. Harvard University Press.

• Kassem, Y. (2019). Basics of gas field processing. Independently Published.

• Smil, V. (2015). Natural gas: Fuel for the 21st century. Wiley.

MODULE III – The New Geopolitics of the Energy Transition

Week 6: Critical Minerals and Supply Chain Dependencies

Core Question: How is competition over the extraction and processing of transition minerals reconfiguring global strategic dependencies?

Topics: Global supply chains of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earth elements; processing concentration and refining monopolies; resource nationalism, state intervention, and export restrictions; friend-shoring and institutional mineral alliances.

Analytical Lab: Methodological mapping of a multi-tier critical mineral value chain to identify processing bottlenecks and regulatory choke points.

Reflexive Question: To what extent do emerging critical mineral supply dependencies replicate the asymmetric, extractive architectures of the legacy hydrocarbon era?

Additional Literature 

• Beiser, V. (2019). The world in a grain: The story of sand and how it transformed civilization. Riverhead Books.

• Jaffe, A. M. (2024). Energy’s digital future. Columbia University Press.

• Kalantzakos, S. (2020). China and the geopolitics of rare earths. Oxford University Press.

• Miller, C. (2022). Chip war: The fight for the world's most critical technology. Scribner.

• Pitron, G. (2020). The rare metals war: The dark side of clean energy and digital technologies. Scribe Publications.

• Sanderson, H. (2023). Volt rush. Oneworld Publications.

Week 7: Renewables, Electricity Grids, and Technological Power

Core Question: How do cross-border electrical interconnections and renewable hardware value chains alter patterns of interstate influence?

Topics: Solar and wind technology manufacturing ecosystems; the politics and regulatory frameworks of High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cross-border grids; industrial dominance in energy storage systems and battery cell manufacturing.

Analytical Lab: Technical risk assessment of supply chain concentrations or cyber-physical vulnerabilities within a regional electrical distribution network.

Reflexive Question: Are electrical grid architectures and technology value chains inherently more or less prone to securitisation than conventional fossil fuel networks?

Additional Literature 

• Aklin, M., & Urpelainen, J. (2018). Renewables: The politics of a global energy transition. MIT Press.

• Chen, G. (2019). Politics of renewable energy in China. Edward Elgar Publishing.

• Dekanozishvili, M. (2023). Dynamics of EU renewable energy policy integration. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Fiorino, D. J. (2022). The clean energy transition. Polity.

• Jelley, N. (2026). Renewable energy. Oxford University Press.

• Scholten, D. (Ed.). (2018). The geopolitics of renewables. Springer.

Week 8: Managing Import Vulnerability: The Strategies of Major Importers

Core Question: How do resource-poor advanced industrialized economies insulate themselves from energy disruptions within a fragmenting international order?

Topics: Japan’s post-Fukushima energy diversification, fuel procurement, and civil nuclear strategy; the European Union’s REPowerEU initiative; strategic hedging, bilateral energy partnerships, and demand-side adjustments.

Analytical Lab: Comparative analysis of Japanese and German strategic responses to external energy shocks (e.g., 2011 nuclear phase-outs versus 2022 natural gas cut-offs).

Reflexive Question: Can technological substitution, infrastructural redundancy, and institutional alliances fully compensate for structural geographic resource deficits?

Additional Literature 

• Blas, J., & Farchy, J. (2022). The world for sale. Oxford University Press.

• Garavini, G. (2021). The rise and fall of OPEC in the twentieth century. Oxford University Press.

• Müsgens, F., & Bade, A. (2025). Energy trading and risk management. Springer.

• Pereira, E. G. (2024). Upstream oil and gas in Africa. Globe Law and Business.

• Quinn, J. J. (2026). Majority state ownership of oil and mining sectors in Africa. Routledge.

• Raimi, D. (2019). The fracking debate: The risks, benefits, and uncertainties of the shale revolution. Columbia University Press.

• Vogler, G. (2017). Iraq and the politics of oil: An insider’s perspective. University Press of Kansas.

MODULE IV – Regional Theatres and Great Power Energy Strategies

Week 9: The Gulf, OPEC+, and Middle East Energy Geopolitics

Core Question: How are the Gulf states adapting their domestic political economies and foreign strategies to navigate global decarbonisation mandates and great power competition?

Topics: Structural adjustments under Saudi Vision 2030; clean energy, hydrogen investments, and civilian nuclear generation in the United Arab Emirates; the impact of secondary trade and financial sanctions on Iranian and Iraqi export routes.

Analytical Lab: Application of the five-rule framework to a sovereign wealth fund energy transition investment strategy in the Middle East.

Reflexive Question: Are Middle Eastern states actively pivoting away from fossil dependencies, or are they retooling their sovereign capabilities to control a multi-tier global energy structure?

Additional Literature 

• Dargin, J. (2025). The Gulf’s climate reckoning. Cambridge University Press.

• Garavini, G. (2021). The rise and fall of OPEC in the twentieth century. Oxford University Press.

• Hope, B., & Scheck, J. (2021). Blood and oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s ruthless quest for global power. Hachette Books.

• Qarmout, T., Zaidan, E., & Joyce, P. (Eds.). (2025). Public policy in Gulf states. Springer.

• Scholten, D. (2023). Handbook on the geopolitics of the energy transition. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Week 10: Russia, Central Asia, and Eurasian Energy Corridors

Core Question: How has Russia reconfigured its energy statecraft and infrastructural architecture in response to comprehensive multilateral sanctions?

Topics: The infrastructural pivot to Asia and the build-out of eastern pipeline corridors; hydrocarbon competition and transit regimes across Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan); the structural dynamics of Russia–China energy interdependence.

Analytical Lab: Quantitative analysis and transit mapping of changing Eurasian oil and natural gas export flows over a multi-year horizon.

Reflexive Question: Is Russian resource statecraft undergoing a structural decline under restrictive trade frameworks, or is it adapting through alternative market mechanisms?

Additional Literature 

• Balmaceda, M. M. (2021). Russian energy chains: The remaking of technopolitics from Siberia to Ukraine to the European Union. Columbia University Press.

• Buchanan, E. (2021). Russian energy strategy in the Asia-Pacific: Implications for Australia. Australian National University Press.

• Djalilova, N. (2022). Sustainable energy in Central Asia. Routledge.

• Marat, E. (2026). Introducing Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Routledge.

• Opdahl, I. M. (2020). The Russian state and Russian energy companies. Routledge.

• Perović, J. (2024). Fuel and power. Cambridge University Press.

• Porter, J., & Vinokour, M. (Eds.). (2023). Energy culture. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Tynkkynen, V.-P. (2019). Energy of Russia: Hydrocarbon culture and climate change. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Week 11: China’s Global Energy Strategy and the Belt and Road Initiative

Core Question: How does China secure external resource access and integrate global energy systems within its broader foreign policy framework?

Topics: Energy infrastructure finance under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); overseas equity oil and mineral acquisitions; the development of the Polar Silk Road and maritime transport path hedges.

Analytical Lab: Strategic deconstruction of the economic and geopolitical rationale underlying a Chinese state-backed energy infrastructure investment or resource concession.

Reflexive Question: Does China’s highly integrated, state-directed approach to global energy access constitute a novel model of statecraft, or does it follow traditional patterns of resource imperialism?

Additional Literature 

• Gerstl, A., & Wallenböck, U. (Eds.). (2022). China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Routledge.

• Hillman, B., & Ji, F. (Eds.). (2026). The Communist Party of China: Understanding the durability of the world’s most powerful political organization. Cambridge University Press.

• Sahakyan, M. D., & Lo, K. (2025). Routledge handbook of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia. Routledge.

• Shapiro, J. (2015). China’s environmental challenges. Polity.

• Sheng, L., & do Nascimento, D. F. (2022). The Belt and Road Initiative in South–South cooperation. Palgrave Macmillan.

• Shi, D. (2025). Study on China’s energy security structure. Springer.

• Sinopec Economics & Development Research Institute. (2025). China energy outlook 2060. Springer.

• Song, M., Chen, J., Feng, Y., Xu, S., Zhao, S., & Xing, Q. (2025). China’s coal consumption, emissions, and energy security. Springer Nature.

• Sun, X., & Ji, Q. (2025). Energy and critical mineral security in China. Springer Nature.

• Usman, S. M., & Jia, W. (2026). China’s interest in Central Asia. Peter Lang.

• Wang, A. L. (2026). Chinese global environmentalism. Cambridge University Press.

• Yu, K. (2023). China’s energy security in the twenty-first century. Hong Kong University Press.

Week 12: Geopolitical Futures of Energy Transition and Climate Security

Core Question: What alternative future configurations of the global energy order are plausible, and what are their institutional and security implications?

Topics: Long-range energy scenario methodologies for 2035–2050; the geopolitics of hydrogen trade; climate change impacts on infrastructure resilience; systemic risks arising from global market fragmentation versus grid integration.

Analytical Lab: Scenario exercise drafting two mutually exclusive projections for the 2035 global energy order, accounting for both data centre energy demand expansions and carbon constraints.

Reflexive Question: Whose strategic, regional, and commercial interests are advanced by institutional assumptions of an orderly, cooperative global energy transition?

Additional Literature 

• Berners-Lee, M. (2025). A climate of truth. Cambridge University Press.

• Guenther, G. (2024). The language of climate politics. Oxford University Press.

• Hauger, J. S., & Mizo, R. (Eds.). (2026). Climate change, national security and geopolitics. Routledge.

• McKibben, B. (2025). Here comes the sun. W. W. Norton.

• Miller, T. (2017). Storming the wall: Climate change, migration, and homeland security. City Lights.

• Rhodes, R. (2019). Energy: A human history. Simon & Schuster.

• Swain, A. (2024). Climate security. SAGE Publications.

• Welzer, H. (2017). Climate wars: Why people will be killed in the 21st century. Polity.

• Wolfberg, A. (2025). Climate security intelligence. Springer.

*** This course is designed to be adaptable. The weekly structure, assessment components, and reading load can be adjusted to suit the requirements of a particular higher education institution or the context of individual tutoring, and can be scaled to meet the demands of bachelor’s and master’s degree students alike. The analytical framework and intellectual ambitions of the course remain constant; the format is a starting point, not a constraint.

Updated – June 2026

I have done my utmost to ensure everything is correct, but if you spot any mistakes, please let me know, as I am only human after all. Additionally, if you have a recommendation for another excellent book that could enhance this course, please do share your suggestions.

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