Studying Environmental Politics in Middle Eastern and North African Autocracies

Giulia Cimini (University of Bologna) discusses her research on autocracies’ environmental commitment and performance in the MENA region. Discussant will be Silvia Bagni (University of Bologna).

Talk Abstract

The coming of China’s ‘environmental authoritarianism’ as a strategy for constructing and maintaining regime legitimacy has challenged an early scholarly consensus on authoritarian regimes’ inability to produce positive environmental results or show any concern for the environment at all. As empirical works on authoritarian regimes have increased and diversified, they have returned a more nuanced picture of autocracies’ environmental commitment and performance across the entire regime spectrum and in many areas worldwide. Autocracies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region offer promising new research grounds for a comparative perspective, both because of the variety of autocracies they embody and their exposure to environmental risks. However, they are still off of our study radar. What are the epistemological, conceptual and methodological challenges in studying environmental politics in the MENA? This talk is thought of as a time to discuss how to overcome the scientific and practical hurdles in the field of environmental studies and design comparative research projects.

Speaker's Short Bio

Giulia Cimini is a Junior Assistant Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna. Her research interests include political parties, security assistance and environmental governance in Middle East and North Africa. She authored Political Parties in Post-Uprising Tunisia and Morocco (Routledge 2023) and co-edited Political Islam Inside-Out (Routledge 2022). She published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Contemporary Politics, and Middle Eastern Studies. Between 2019 and 2023, Giulia was the Principal Investigator of the research project 'Security for Whom?' funded by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation. Since 2023, she has been Scientific Responsible and Coordinator of the inter-departmental project "Go Green: A Trans-Mediterranean Approach to Climate Change" with the International University of Rabat, financed by the University of Bologna. Giulia is Associate Editor of the scientific journal Interdisciplinary Political Studies (IdPS)