Mr. Wilson
775-8494, Rice 209

Course Objectives
This course, formerly known as "Political Theory and the Environment," is intended to help you participate in an ongoing debate about the relations between humans, their politics, and non-human "nature." You should gain, not only a deeper understanding of the theoretical roots of environmental politics and policy, but also an ability to develop your own perspectives on the politics of the environment.
One objective of the course is therefore to help you see how political theories of the past might reveal some assumptions about politics and "nature" that still matter. Another is for you to learn to apply some of the contested perspectives of political theories to environmental problems and solutions. Still another is to encourage you to work out your own "theory", or at least approach, to the controversies we will be following.

Course Requirements
Reading: The following books have been ordered at the Co-op. Please buy them if possible. Most are primary source materials. The Dryzek book is a series of commentaries that we shall read throughout the course.

Benton, Ted, ed. The Greening of Marxism
Bookchin, Murray Remaking Society
Drengson and Inoue, eds. The Deep Ecology Movement
Dryzek, John The Politics of the Earth
Malthus, Thomas Essay on Population
Ophuls, William Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity Revisited
Paehlke, Robert Environmentalism and the Future of Progressive Politics
Sagoff, Mark The Economy of the Earth
Schultze, Charles The Public Use of Private Interest

Several other books have been ordered in limited quantity for optional purchase. These are:
Diamond and Orenstein Reweaving the World
Merchant, Carolyn Radical Ecology
Ross, Andrew Strange Weather

Selections will be read from several other books and articles. The instructor has requested all course readings, including the books listed above, to be placed on reserve in Mudd. Most articles and book chapters have been photocopied.

An extensive supplementary bibliography will be distributed during the first few days of class.

Class Attendance
Classes meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10.00 to 10.50. Regular attendance is required. On Fridays, an additional section will be opened between 11.00 and 11.50 (room TBA) for half the class. You must meet with the instructor individually at least once during the semester; office hours will be announced at the beginning of the semester. During the second half of the semester you will be asked to prepare discussion questions on the readings, to be circulated to the class.

Writing Assignments
Two short (6-10) papers will be assigned during the semester. The first paper will be due just before spring break, and the second one at the end of the reading period. Though more specific information on paper assignments will be forthcoming, your writing in this course will consist of essays that focus on specific texts and assess critically their arguments and perspectives.

There will also be a take-home final examination on which you will have the opportunity to pull together some of the disparate threads of the course.

Grades
Course grades will be based on your papers and exam, and to some extent also on your class attendance and participation.

Schedule of Assignments and Classes
All readings are on reserve. (P) means that at least one photocopy should be available in addition to, or instead of, the book or journal.

Green Political Theory: Introduction
Wed. 2-4 Introductory and organizational meeting
Fri. 2-6 Wilson, handout
Dryzek, John, The Politics of the Earth, ch. 1 (pp. 3-20)
Eckersley, Robyn, Environmentalism and Political Theory, Introduction, chs. 1-2 (pp. 1-49) (P)

The Classical Perspective: Nature and Human Nature
Mon. 2-9 Aristotle, Politics, Book I, chs. 1-10; in Barker, ed., The Politics of Aristotle, pp. 1-29
Sibley, M.Q., "The Relevance of Classical Political Theory," Alternatives 2/2, Winter 1973, pp. 14-35 (P)
Leeson, Susan, "Philosophic Implications of the Ecological Crisis: The Authoritarian Challenge to Liberalism," Polity 11/3, Spring 1979, pp. 303-318 (P)

Technology, Nature, and Politics
Wed. 2-11 Jonas, Hans, "The Practical Uses of Theory," Social Research 26/2, Summer 1959, pp. 127-150 (P)
Merchant, Carolyn, The Death of Nature, pp. 99-103, 164-190, 192-193. (P)
Fri. 2-13 Winner, Langdon, Autonomous Technology, pp. 1-30, 237-262 (P)

Nature and Human Survival
Mon. 2-16 Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan, Part I, chs. 13-18
Wed. 2-18 Malthus, Thomas, An Essay on Population, all
Fri. 2-20 Hardin, Garrett, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, Dec. 13, 1968, pp. 1243-1248 (P)
Dryzek, ch. 2 (pp. 23-44)

Nature and Liberal Political Economy
Mon. 2-23 Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government, chs. II, V, VIII, IX.
Wed. 2-25 Simon, J., "What Does the Future Hold?" in Simon, ed., The State of Humanity, pp. 642-660 (P)
Wildavsky, A., "No Risk is the Highest Risk of All," American Scientist 67/1, 1979, pp. 32- 37 (P)
Dryzek, ch. 3 (pp. 45-60)
Fri. 2-27 Anderson, T., and D. Leal, Free Market Environmentalism, pp. 1-23, 167-172 (P)
Dryzek, ch. 6 (102-119)
Mon. 3-2 Schultze, Charles, The Public Use of Private Interests, pp. 1-46
Dryzek, ch. 4 (pp. 61-83)
Wed. 3-4 Schultze, Public Use, pp. 66-90
Fri. 3-6 Sagoff, The Economy of the Earth, pp. 1-73 Mon. 3-9 Sagoff, The Economy of the Earth, pp. 74-123
Dryzek, ch. 5 (pp. 84-101)
Wed. 3-11 Brundtland, Gro Harlem, chair, World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, pp. 1-66
Fri. 3-13 Our Common Future, pp. 308-347
Dryzek, ch. 7-8 (pp. 121-152)

Leviathan Revisited?
Mon. 3-16 Ophuls, William, and S. Boyer, Ecology and the Politics of Scarcity Revisited, pp. 1-16, 189-253
Wed. 3-18 Ophuls and Boyer, pp. 281-316

Fri. 3-20 FIRST PAPER ASSIGNMENT DUE

S P R I N G B R E A K

Radical Ecology---Themes and Approaches
Mon. 3-30 Merchant, Radical Ecology, Introduction, pp. 132- 154 (P)
Dryzek, chs. 9-10 (pp. 155-193)

Eco-Marxism and Critical Theory
Wed. 4-1 Parsons, ed., Marx and Engels on Ecology, pp. 132- 136, 158-178, 183-191, 206-220 (P)
Wilson, handout
Fri. 4-3 Benton, Ted, ed., The Greening of Marxism, chs. 1- 3 (by Enzensberger, Vaillancourt, Perelman and Soper), pp. 17-99
Mon. 4-6 Benton, ed., ch. 9 (O'Connor), pp. 197-221
Williams, Raymond, "Socialism and Ecology," in Resources of Hope, pp. 210-226 (P)
Wed. 4-8 Marcuse, Herbert, "Ecology and the Critique of Modern Society," Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 3/3, September 1992, pp. 29-38 (P)
Dobson, Andrew, "Critical Theory and Green Politics," in A. Dobson and P. Lucardie, eds., The Politics of Nature, pp. 190-209 (P)

Social Ecology
Wed. 4-10 Gorz, Andre, Ecology as Politics, pp. 3-53 (P)
Fri. 4-12 Bookchin, Murray, Remaking Society, pp. 7-73
Mon. 4-15 Bookchin, pp. 127-204

Deep Ecology
Wed. 4-17 Drengson, Alan, and Yuichi Inoue, eds., The Deep Ecology Movement, chs. 1-2 (Naess), 5 (Naess/ Sessions), 8 (Drengson) (pp. 3-30, 49-53, 74- 100)
Fri. 4-19 Drengson and Inoue, eds, chs. 18 (Rodman), 19 (McLaughlin) (pp. 242-256, 257-280)

Ecofeminism
Mon. 4-22 Warren, Karen, "The Promise and the Power of Ecological Feminism," in Warren, ed., Ecological Feminist Philosophies, pp. 19-41 (P)
Wed. 4-24 Diamond and Orenstein, eds., Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism, pp. 100-161 (Merchant, King, Quinby, Kheel, Zimmerman, Plant) (P)
Fri. 4-26 Sturgeon, Noel, Ecofeminist Natures, introduction (pp. 3-21) (P)
Shiva, Vandana, Staying Alive, introduction and chs. 2-3 (pp. 14-54) (P)

Postmodern Nature, Science, Politics
Mon. 4-29 Winner, Langdon, "The State of Nature Revisited," in The Whale and the Reactor, pp. 121-137 (P)
Chaloupka, William, and R. McG. Cawley, "The Great Wild Hope", in J. Bennett and W. Chaloupka, eds., In the Nature of Things, pp. 3-23 (P)
Wed. 5-1 Ross, Andrew, Strange Weather, pp. 1-13, 47-74, 160- 167, 169-172, 183-192
Fri. 5-3 Haraway, Donna, "A Cyborg Manifesto," in Simians, Cyborgs, and Women" The Reinvention of Nature, pp. 149-181 (P)

Environment, Democracy, and the Problem of Theory and Practice
Mon. 5-5 Paehlke, Robert, Environmentalism and the Future of Progressive Politics, chs. 1, 7 (pp. 1-12, 177- 213)
Wed. 5-7 Paehlke, chs. 9, 10 (pp. 243-285)
Fri. 5-9 Dobson, Andrew, The Green Reader, "Green Political Strategies," pp. 185-232 (P)
Dryzek, ch. 11 (197-201)

Tue. 5-12 SECOND PAPER ASSIGNMENT DUE

TBA TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAMINATION DUE