The Politics of Human Vulnerability to Climate Change: Exploring Adaptation Lock-ins in China and the United States

This book compares how the social consequences of climate change are similarly unevenly distributed within China and the United States, despite different political systems. It explores path-dependent factors that hinder climate adaptation by local governments, showing that vulnerability is a core component in both locations. The book challenges the assumption that developed countries have higher adaptive capacity than developing or emerging economies and interrogates the role of knowledge and political institutions in addressing social justice issues in adaptation.

Format: Hardback
Length: 290 pages
Publication date: 31 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

This book delves into a comparative analysis of the social consequences of climate change in China and the United States, despite their distinct political systems. By examining the cases of Atlanta, USA, and Jinhua, China, Julia Teebken explores a range of path-dependent factors, known as lock-ins, that hinder local governments' ability to effectively adapt to the root causes of vulnerability. These lock-ins contribute to the incremental and often environmental-focused nature of adaptation efforts in both locations. Vulnerability emerges as a central aspect in both political systems, alongside the reestablishment of a class-based society. This manifests in the ways knowledge and political institutions operate. Teebken challenges the notion that China's environmental authoritarian structures are better equipped to handle climate change-related challenges and questions the superiority of certain aspects of the liberal democratic tradition of the United States in addressing social justice issues in the context of adaptation.

Overall, the book's findings challenge the prevailing assumption that developed countries possess inherently greater adaptive capacity than developing or emerging economies. This volume will be of immense interest to students, scholars, and practitioners in the fields of climate justice, vulnerability, climate adaptation, and environmental policy and governance.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032024035