Environmental Politics & Policy-Making

Catalog description

This course provides participants understanding of the politics and process of environmental policy-making in the US. The class begins by examining how environmental issues arrive on the public agenda and the role of political institutions – along with scientists, non-profits, and the general public – in crafting environmental policy. This, in the effort, to equip participants with a theoretical understanding of the policy-making process as well as the practical political forces that predominate today. Emphasis is placed on the use – or misuse – of scientific information in the policy making process. This is intended to provide students an understanding of the various approaches used by governmental and non-governmental actors in the creation of environmental policy, and the necessary trade-offs actors must make given the constraints of the system. At the end of the term, students should be able to discuss the circumstances necessary for environmental policy change as well as a better understanding of the current environmental policies concerning the management of the Great Lakes watershed.