The Colorado Internet Center for Environmental Problem Solving

University Environmental Course Listings

Policy Responses to Global Environmental Change

This course will address global environmental change as both a source of conflict and a source of cooperation. It will explore both natural problems such as the effects of El Nino, and anthropogenic problems such as ozone depletion The linkages between local environmental change and global concern will be highlighted. using comparative approaches and case-specific examples from developing as well as industrialized regions, the seminar will investigate the contributions of various social and economic factors to environmental change. Particular attention will be paid to the changing institutional environment in which global change occurs. Various frameworks for analysis will also be evaluated.

Water Law, Policy, and Institutions

Contemporary issues in water management based on legal doctrine. Legal issues in water resource problems are identified and discussed in close relationship with technical, economic, and political considerations.

Introduction to Environmental Studies

A survey of environmental studies examining ecological, socioeconomic, political, aesthetic, and technological factors that influence the quality of life on Earth.

Race, Class, and Pollution Politics

Examines communities affected by major toxic contamination threats in the U. S., evaluating race and class factors in levels of governmental and private-sector responses and actions. Investigative research methods utilized at case study sites provide skills necessary for assessment of any environmental threat for protective action.

Global Issues and International Affairs

Introduces students to the international affairs program. Examines political and economic development in several countries in many different world regions; historical trends and development; and current political and economic issues. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies. International Affairs Program, University of Colorado, CB 333, Boulder, CO 80309-0333

Global Perspectives and Political Philosophy

Preparation and discussion of selected political philosophies from various regions around the world including Islamic fundamentalism, Confucianism, traditional African ideologies, and Enlightenism. A critical review of these approaches will form the basis for a comparison of the corresponding political system.

Public Land Law

Deals with the legal status and management of federal lands. Explores federal law, policy, and agency practice affecting the use of mineral, timber, range, water, wildlife, and wilderness resources on public lands.

Foundations of Natural Resources Law and Policy

Examines the historical, political, and intellectual influences that created and shaped major areas of law governing land and natural resources development and conservation, especially in the American West. Readings include books and articles by leading writers as well as the landmark court decisions. Enables students with a passing interest in natural resources to take a single course in the field. Allows students going on to take other natural resource courses a more advanced treatment of the subject matter.

Water Resources

Analysis of regional and national water problems, including legal methods by which water supplies are allocated, and an examination of problems involved in water resource planning.

Oil and Gas

Deals with the legal problems associated with private arrangements forth ownership and development of oil and gas: deeds and leases to oil and gas rights. trespass, adverse possession, implied covenants in leases, conveyances of fractional interests, and the interaction of private right and conservation regulation.

Mining Law

Federal law governing access to and development of hard rock minerals on public lands; location of claims; issues of discovery; assessment work; patents; and environmental regulation.

Pollution Law

Examination and analysis of important federal pollution control statutes, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Solid Waste Act, and Superfund, Related economic theory and policy issues are considered.

Natural Resources Litigation Clinic

Offers hands-on experience in the practice of natural resources law in the Rocky Mountain region to a select number of clinic students. Affords an inside view into both complex environmental litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. Students participate in traditional litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution. Students participate in traditional litigation, administrative advocacy, legislative drafting, and the conduct of complex negotiations and settlements.

Hazardous Waste and Toxic Torts

Examines statutorily-imposed responsibility and common-law tort and product liability exposure. These are discussed in relation to the growing problem of the handling and disposal of toxic substances and hazardous waste as they impact public health and the environment. Focuses on federal law and that of several states regulating chemicals and toxic substances, hazardous waste disposal, and clean-up of contaminated sites.

Legal Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Explores fundamentals of effective negotiation techniques and policies for lawyers. Students engage in mock negotiations of several legal disputes. Examines a variety of dispute resolution processes such as mediation, arbitration, mini-trials, and court-annexed settlement procedures as alternatives to traditional court adjudication.

Independent Legal Research: International Environmental Law Journal

Students participate in the research, writing, and editing activities involved in publishing the Colorado Journal of Environmental Law and Policy. Standards for the awarding of credit are set and applied by the faculty.

Seminar: Advanced Natural Resources Law

For students with a strong interest in natural resources issues in the American West. Coverage is based upon biological and geographical classifications where numerous resource issues converge. Studies historical, literary, and scientific materials and then moves to an analysis of current problems relating to matters such as federal public lands, wildlife habitat, water quantity, ocean and coastal law, land us planning, pollution control, Indian law, and state, federal authority as they implicate the topic of the seminar.

Seminar: Advanced Water Resource Management

Explores the use of watersheds as geographic and political entities for addressing water- related issues. Introduces the nature of watersheds and their historical treatment, and looks at the ways in which laws and institutions facilitate or impede watershed-based problem solving or decision-making. Students prepare and present major research papers focusing on a particular water issue and explore solutions in the context of the entire watershed with its related problems and multiple, interconnected interest.

Seminar: Biotechnology and Law

Legal, moral, and economic analysis of problems posed or soon to be posed by advances in biomedical technologies. Examines problems raised by behavior control through organic intervention, including psychosurgery, psychoactive drugs. and electrical stimulation of the brain; genetic engineering, amplification of human powers and faculties by artificial means, including organ transplantation, man-machine symbiosis, and pharmacologically induced enhancement of mental functioning; death and dying; and regulation of experimentation with human subjects. Discusses problems in distributive justice posed by limited availability of biotechnological commodities, as well as issues arising from enforced treatment.

Seminar: Alternative Dispute Resolution

A study of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) theory, its application in specific contexts (e. g., civil rights), procedural approaches to ADR, advantages and disadvantages of using ADR, and the attorney's roles in ADR processes.

Seminar: International Environmental Law

Deals with selected issues in environmental law that involve the United States and one or more other countries. Students prepare research papers on topics dealing with trans-boundary pollution, extraterritorial application of federal water courses, export or disposal of hazardous materials, regulation of foreign aid and investment affecting the environment, options for controlling global climate change, and the use of treaties to protect the environment.

Bioethics and Public Policy

Examines public policy implications of contemporary biological, genetic, biomedical, and behavioral science in light of ethics and human values. Considers theoretical and practical grounds for moral assessment of scientific research and possible applications of technology.

Topics in Values and Social Policy

Deals with topics in the area of philosophy and public policy and is often interdisciplinary in focus. Topics vary from one semester to another.

Revolution and Political Violence

Study, discussion, and evaluation of alternative theoretical frameworks for the analysis of revolution and political violence. Theoretical material is firmly couched in case situations such as ethnic class, colonial, urban, racial and religious conflicts.

War, Peace and Strategic Defense

Analysis of the employment, or the threat to employ force, in securing American interests in the post Cold War World. Special attention is paid to the utilities claimed for nuclear weapons, and, alternatively, to their control and disarmament.

International Relations

Readings and discussion of the actors, international interaction, and the international system. Emphasizes assessment of relationships between concepts, approaches, goals, methods, and substance of relations among states and on trends that transcend sovereignty. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies.

American Foreign Policy

Examines foundations, assumptions, objectives, dynamics and methods of U.S. foreign policy since WWII. Special attention to domestic and externalproblems of adapting U. S. policy to the changing world environment. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: United States context;

The Environment and Public Policy

Considers constitutional, political, and geographic factors in developmentof public policy affecting use of natural resources and management of theenvironment; organization, procedures; administration of environmentalpolicies.

Political Ethics in Policy Analysis

Explores alternative ways of understanding public problems and theirsolutions, and exposes underlying ethical principles to critical examination.

Soviet and Russian Diplomacy

Foreign policy of the Soviet Union, including the international communistmovement, its ideological bases, its impact on international politics, and itsrelations to domestic developments in the U. S. S. R.. Approved for arts andsciences core curriculum: contemporary society.

The Middle East in World Affairs

Discusses evolution and revolution in the Middle East and the character ofnationalism in the area. Analysis of intraregional and international problemsaffecting the Middle East with special emphasis on the Arab-Israeli imbroglio.

Seminar: American Foreign Relations

Critical review of select conceptual, prescriptive, and methodological literature; examination of select foreign policy problems; discussion of seminar papers. Emphasizes student contribution and participation.

Seminar: Conflict Behavior

Surveys historical, theoretical, and empirical analyses of violent conflict behavior, including causes and consequences of riots, terrorism, revolution, international war, and intervention.

Seminar: Natural Resources Policy and Administration

Examines resources in the American economy; constitutional, political. and geographic factors in development of resources policy; organization procedures and programs for administration and development of natural resources; and selected topics.

International Violence and Political Psychology

Seeks to explore the relationship between knowledge and action in international violence. Considers the contributions and perspectives of science, engineering, and ethics.

Argument, Persuasion, and Public Policy

The audiences for policy arguments are typically a number of somewhat autonomous policy communities. An inability to persuade relevant audiences invites failure and frustration. Consequently, the course examines a number of types of policies in terms of what seems to persuade and why.

Introduction to the Policy Sciences: The Problem Orientation

This is a course about how to do policy analysis. In Policy for Public Decisions, MacRae and Wilde define policy analysis as "the use of reason and evidence to choose the best policy among a number of alternatives" to a particular policy problem. many other definitions have been offered, but the common thread is a systematic reasoning about alternative courses of action to deal with a policy problem, in effect "knowledge in and of the policy process".

Subordinate Protest and Democratization

Considers traditional studies of democratic development and democratization. Topics covered include the definition of democracy, characteristics, dilemmas, and limitations; the classical European view of democratization; democratic and non-democratic characteristics of different social classes; contributions to democracy made by the popular classes; and transitions to democracy and subordinate groups and protest in the democratization process.

Soviet Foreign Policy

Covers foreign policy of the Soviet Union, its relation to Marxism-Leninism and/or Russian nationalism, and the international communist movement. Special attention to the impact of domestic and foreign factors and science and technology on policy formation.

Introduction to the Policy Sciences: The Decision Process

Provides policy sciences frameworks for analyzing policy problems and evaluating policy alternative, and for analyzing policy processes and designing political strategies to influence those processes in the directions of the preferred alternative. Emphasizes applications to problems selected by students for term projects.

Introduction to the Policy Sciences: The Problem Orientation

This is a course about how to do policy analysis. In Policy for Public Decisions, MacRae and Wilde define policy analysis as "the use of reason and evidence to choose the best policy among a number of alternatives" to a particular policy problem. many other definitions have been offered, but the common thread is a systematic reasoning about alternative courses of action to deal with a policy problem, in effect "knowledge in and of the policy process".

Policy Analysis/Applications: The Decision Process

This course provides an introduction to the decision process of public policy: the set of activities that together define the continuum of public policy decision- making. For the student, the course has two primary goals: 1) to gain a basic conceptual understanding of the public policy decision process; and 2)to become adept at analyzing the various dimensions of the decision process for the purpose of strategizing and making recommendation about how to realize a set of preferred policy outcomes in applied policy settings. To these ends, the course plan alternates between the intensive consideration of a set of readings about the different phases of the policy decision process, and the analysis and application of decision process concepts to cases selected by students.

Public Policy Analysis II: Applications

This course is designed to teach students interested in public policy a systematic method for analyzing public policy problems. The emphasis is on learning the method by application to a concrete problem of concern to the student. The objective of the course is to provide policy analysts with the conceptual tools necessary to develop a policy recommendation for a given problem and to develop a political strategy to implement that recommendation.

Analyzing Society

Examines U. S. society in global context, using basic sociological ideas. Focuses on the nature of group life, social and moral order, social institutions, social disorganization, social problems, and social change. Approved for arts and science core curriculum: contemporary societies.

Global Human Ecology

Examines global survival issues and human values. Focuses on such problems as overpopulation, world hunger and poverty, pollution, resource shortages, environmental impact of technology and population dynamics, public policy, and strategies for change.

Ethics and Social Issues in U. S. Health and Medicine

Explores current ethical and policy issues in U. S. health and medical practices. Includes such issues as alcohol and drug abuse, organ transplants and substitutes, genetic engineering, contraception, abortion, occupational safety and health, and euthanasia. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.

Social Conflict and Social Values

Explores origin, escalation, and resolution of social conflict. Focuses on major conflict theories, human values, and social action, and use of simulation and negotiation exercises for learning conflict management skills. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: contemporary societies or ideals and values.

Contemporary Social Issues and Human Values

Explores contemporary societies on a global scale. Focuses on such issues as capitalism , socialism, race and ethnic problems, sex discrimination, poverty and the concentration of wealth, crime and deviance, human rights and human values, peace and war.

Sociology of Natural and Social Environments

Sociological interpretation of the increasingly traumatic interaction of ecological and social systems in the Rocky Mountain west, where the natural environment is impacted by recreation and energy development.

Nonviolence and the Ethics of Social Action

Examines nonviolence as a strategy of social action. Focuses on ethics and dynamics of nonviolent action; racial and economic justice movements; civil disobedience; and conscientious objection to war.

U. S. Values, Social Problems, and Social Change

Examines U. S. society from the perspective of values and theories of social change. Considers such problems as distribution of power, unemployment, poverty, racism and sexism, the changing role of the family, and drugs. Approved for arts and sciences core curriculum: ideals and values.

Sociological Analysis of Revolution

Comparative analysis of major revolutions emphasizing causation, revolutionary process, and long-term consequences. Attention given to social stratification, political organization, economic processes, ideological systems, and international relations.

Sociology of Peacemaking

Analyzes institutions of war and the forces emerging to counter them, such as negotiation, nonviolent national defense, and peace movements.

Social Relations

Improves students' abilities to observe, analyze, and understand their own behavior and that of others; improves their ability to see the small group as asocial system. Students are expected to demonstrate their abilities by participation in groups as well as written analyses.

Environmental and Society

Focuses on influences of both natural and built environments upon human behavior and social organization; microenvironments and their influence on individuals; the impact of macroenvironments on societal organization; and environmental movements.

Social Change

Studies historically and cross-culturally the causes of modernization and its effects upon the individual, the family, and economic and political institutions.

Sociology of Language

More than anything else, it is the fact that humans use language that makes them what they are. Course focuses on language in its social context, and what happens when people talk.

Social Movement in the U. S.

The philosophical foundations, new values, motivations for joining, leadership, strategies, organization dynamics, public response, and reasons for success and failure of social movements are the primary foci. A look at organized attempts to contest traditional ideas and values regarding the relationship of human organization and activities to various movements.

Sociology of War

Considers the questions war raises by applying sociological theory and methods to armed conflicts from the Peloponnesian War to the Gulf War.

Theories of Conflict

Discusses theories about causes of conflict, its consequences, and methods of conflict resolution. Examples are drawn from the fields of small groups, community conflict, and international disputes. Explores relationship between the theory of conflict resolution and its practices, such as mediation.

Conflict Management in Social Systems

The destructiveness of intractable confrontations has called forth considerable effort in conflict management along two lines: 1) the application of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques to limit transaction costs and transform intractable conflicts into ones resolvable with interest-based bargaining; 2) empowerment efforts to facilitate the pursuit of justice through community-building, power-based advocacy, and even intentional escalation. In this course, we will study how and why intractable conflicts are different from more tractable disputes, and how both can be handle more effectively. We will first review alternative dispute resolution methods, and then compare them with supplementary processes designed specifically for moderating intractable conflicts. Explores conflict resolution theory and method as applied to interpersonal, intergroup, and interorganization conflict.

Topics in Social Conflict

Visiting conflict management specialists examine the theory/practice relationship from the perspective of the professional third-party neutral. Explores family disputes, environmental and resource conflict, and international and civil wars.

The Colorado Internet Center for Environmental Problem Solving Main Home Page -- Main Conflict Research Consortium Home Page

For more information contact: Guy Burgess, Co-Director, Conflict Research Consortium, Campus Box 327, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0327 Phone: (303)492-1635; Fax: (303)492-2154; E-Mail: crc@colorado.eduCopyright 1997 by Conflict Research Consortium