Planning the Green State on a Sinking Ship: Sea Level Rise Politics in the Maldives

Abstract

The Maldives has deployed a unique argument in the arena of global geopolitics, an argument from moral authority on the issue of climate change. In this thesis, I present evidence for the history and structure of this argument. This evidence was gathered through interviews with elites within the Maldives government. Interviews with government elites were preceded by careful analysis of the state of sea level rise science. Additionally, I explain how the Maldives has used this argument in international relations and how through smart brand management, the Maldives has 'punched above its weight' according to traditional geopolitical power metrics. By doing so, the Maldives is rewriting classic geopolitical scripts of power in terms of existential threat rather than that of population and economy.