This course introduces students to the adoption and implementation of environmental policy, with primary emphasis on the United States. It draws heavily from the discipline of political science in examining environmental politics and how this body of theory translates into public policy. Unlike many policy courses that focus exclusively on either national or international institutions, this course will concentrate on federal, state, and local governance and relations across these levels. In turn, we will frequently compare the respective abilities of state and federal governments to both enact and implement environmental policy, drawing on past experience to consider what the “next generation” of American environmental policy might entail.
