From Core to Peripheral Nation-States: What are the Global Climate Change Impacts Across Socioeconomic Classes?

• In Event: 450 - Section on Political Economy of the World-System Paper Session. Human Rights and the Political Economy of the World System

Abstract

Building on the scientifically established basis of anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) global climate change as fact, this paper’s objective is to identify the consequential socioeconomic impacts. The fundamental questions address: Which socioeconomic groups and nation-states will be affected the most, and when will they be affected? From a world-systems perspective, this paper examines these questions. It considers how the core nation-states, particularly the global North hegemony that happens to be in power at any certain time, are able to exploit the peripheral and semiperipheral global South. Later this encompasses capitalism’s impacts on the nation-state hierarchy. Additionally, I argue how public policies might pursue solutions to mitigate the impacts of global climate change on lower-income countries and individuals. After explaining the variations of similar terms to describe climate change, I explain how it does not preclude economic growth intrinsically. This leads to reviews of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate’s Better Growth, Better Climate: New Climate Economy Report and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Environmental Outlook. Subsequently, an investigation of linking climate change to socioeconomic inequalities ensues. This includes impacts on health, air pollution, adapting to temperature changes, food security, natural disasters, and public policies. To contextualize these problems, I describe specific examples of two regional studies—Copenhagen, Denmark and Santiago, Chile. A common thread is the public influence of media coverage.

Author

• Greg Williams, Fielding Graduate University