United States Environmental Politics and Policy

Catalog description

This course examines the creation, content, and implementation of U.S. environmental policy. The first section examines the history of U.S. environmental politics, the policy process, and prominent theories that seek to explain that process. The second examines the role and occasional preferences of key institutions, including the President, Congress, courts, federal agencies, environmental groups, and corporations. The third section examines key current issues, including, air and water pollution, toxic chemicals, public lands, endangered species, climate change, risk assessments, and the use of economic tools to effect change.