POS5012 Environmental Politics
This course will examine several critical debates within the area of environmental politics. Issues concerning the needs of advanced industrial societies and those of the environment, environmental ethics, environmental activism, environmental protection and environmental regulation will be surveyed. The importance of environmental movements (how they are formed) and whose interests they serve will be examined in great detail. Grass roots environmental movements will be studied, along with established environmental organizations, to determine the variety of resources open to those interested in environmental politics. Theories of environmental politics will be studied to provide a background and context for the on-going debates regarding "rights" and the "environment." Power relations between advanced industrialized nations and developing nations will be examined in order to identify areas of commonality as well as those are contested.