Climate change is one of the great challenges of modern politics. In this volume, leading political theorists and historians investigate how the history of political ideas can help us make sense of it. The contributors add a historical perspective to contemporary debates in political theory. They also show that the history of political thought offers new directions for thinking about the environment today. By situating the relationship between humans and nature within a wider history of ideas, the essays provide alternative ways of thinking about the most intractable problems of environmental politics - the status of science in modern democracies, problems of collective action, and the challenges of fatalism. This volume will create new avenues of research for scholars and students in the history of political thought. It is essential reading for undergraduate students interested in environmental challenges: both those in politics seeking a historical perspective, and those in history who want to link their studies to the present.

Leading scholars of political thought demonstrate how the history of political ideas makes sense of environmental politics and climate change.

About the Author
Katrina Forrester is assistant professor of government and social studies at Harvard University, Massachusetts. Sophie Smith is associate professor of political theory at the University of Oxford.

Reviews
'This is a pathbreaking collection of essays on the place of environmental themes in the history of political thought, and the relevance of that history to today's ecological crises. We will be drawing on these insights for years to come.' Jedediah Purdy, Robinson O. Everett Professor of Law, Duke University, North Carolina



Book Information
ISBN 9781107199286
Author Katrina Forrester
Format Hardback
Page Count 250
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 490g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 16mm