Time Schedule:
David Watkins
POL S 383
Seattle Campus
Interrelation between technological and environmental change and policy formation. Consideration of political behavior related to these phenomena and the capacity of urban public organizations to predict change and to formulate policies that can take future states into account.
Class description
Description: This is a course on contemporary environmental politics in the U.S., but we will also examine the history of the environmental movement and environmental legislation and some international and global aspects of environmental politics. The first part of the course will cover the history of the environmental movement, and its accomplishments and failures. Much of this section will focus on the following questions: What are the causes of the environmental crisis? Does it make sense to talk about the (singular) environmental movement, or are there distinct environmental movements (plural)? How are ‘environment’ and ‘nature’ defined, and how does that shape the environmental movement? The second part of the course will look at contemporary environmental policy in the U.S. Primary questions addressed in this section will include: Does environmental policy deal with all major environmental issues? If not, what is missing? How successful has environmental policy been? How could it be more successful? Whose interests does environmental policy serve? The final part of the course will look at specific environmental issues, problems and incidents, and how policy and social movements have sought to address them.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
There are no pre-requisites for this course, and it will be suitable to all those interested in environmental problems and the search for solutions.
Recommended preparation
Texts: There are four required texts for this course: John Dryzek and David Schlosberg’s Debating the Earth: An Environmental Politics Reader, Michael Kraft and Norman Vig’s Environmental Policy: New Directions for the 21st Century, Robert Gottlieb’s Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement, and Judith Layzer's The Environmental Case: Translating Values into Policy.
Class assignments and grading
The grade for this course will be based on a midterm (25%), a final (25%), a policy paper and presentation (25%) and participation and quizzes (25%).
