As wildfires rage, pollution thickens, and species disappear, the world confronts environmental crisis with a set of global institutions in urgent need of reform. Yet, these institutions have proved frustratingly resistant to change. Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, Manulak shows how change occurs in world politics. By re-envisioning the role of timing and temporality in social relations, his analysis presents a new approach to understanding transformative phases in international cooperation. We may now be entering such a phase, he argues, and global actors must be ready to realize the opportunities presented. Charting the often colorful and intensely political history of change in global environmental politics, this book sheds new light on the actors and institutions that shape humanity’s response to planetary decline. It will be of interest to scholars and advanced students of international relations, international organization and environmental politics and history.

About the Speaker

Michael W. Manulak is Assistant Professor of International Affairs, anchoring NPSIA’s Diplomacy and Foreign Policy cluster. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto, his M.A. from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, and earned a D.Phil in International Relations from the University of Oxford.

His research focuses on international organizations, multilateral diplomacy, Canadian foreign policy, global environmental politics, and Non-Proliferation. He is author of Change in Global Environmental Politics: Temporal Focal Points and the Reform of International Institutions (Cambridge University Press, 2022).