original piece of scholarship on the political economy
of climate, due in the Spring Term. The proposal should include a concise research
question, theoretical argument, and a discussion of a proposed empirical approach for
testing that argument (e.g., the data you would use, how you would analyze those data;
qualitative and quantitative approaches are both fine). Aim to write something that could
eventually be published in a leading political science journal and featured on a syllabus
like this one. You may include initial empirical analyses if you would like, but this is
optional. The proposal should be no longer than 3,000 words.
What is something in the real world that you want to explain? Research questions in political economy work often look something like one of the following (note that this list is not exhaustive!):
• Empirical contradiction of canon: The literature typically assumes or argues x (e.g., firms lobby against stricter government regulations). But here’s a case that contradicts that (e.g., fossil fuel firms supporting climate regulations). What explains that?
• Puzzling empirical pattern: Lots of non-fossil fuel companies / non-energy companies lobby aggressively against climate policies. Why, and what are the implications of that?
• Novel phenomenon that theory hasn’t accounted for: Workers of the same ethnic group or gender often concentrate in the same fossil fuel industry. How does that identity group clustering shape reactions to decline in that industry?
• Original intervention in long-standing debate: Scholars have long debated the sources of long-run political-economic development. Here is a new theory for why some countries are more developed more than others that is superior to prior answers for these reasons…
