Hayley Stevenson graduated from Flinders University of South Australia with First Class Honours in International Relations and Spanish. She was awarded her PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 2009. Her doctoral research was an analysis of the diffusion of international climate governance norms, and included case studies on Australia, India, and Spain. This analysis revealed a paradox in global climate governance: successful global action to avoid climate change depends on states complying with international agreements, but the present system induces states to comply with global norms in ways that actually exacerbate unsustainable development. In 2012, this research will be published in a book titled ‘Institutionalizing Unsustainability: The Paradox of Global Climate Governance’ (University of California Press). After completing her doctorate, she spent three years at the Australian National University as a postdoctoral fellow. At the ANU, Dr Stevenson worked with Professor John S. Dryzek on a project entitled ‘Deliberative Global Governance of Climate Change’. The project addresses the concern that global climate change itself, as well as the institutions and policies designed to address climate change, will affect people’s lives around the world, although unevenly. It is therefore important that affected people are appropriately represented in decision-making processes, and that institutions are responsive to their needs and concerns. Dr Stevenson and Professor Dryzek are now co-authoring a book based on this research.
In January 2012, Dr Stevenson joined the Politics Department at Sheffield as a Lecturer in International Relations and Security.
Hayley Stevenson’s principal research interests include: global environmental politics and climate change, constructivist theory of International Relations, norms and foreign policy, global civil society, and deliberation in global governance.
