ER 151
Politics and Political Economy of Energy and the Environment
Politics and Political Economy of Energy and the Environment.
Fall 1998
Professor Gene I. Rochlin
Syllabus
Energy and Resources 151
FALL 1998: Syllabus and Reading List
Professor Rochlin
Tu-Th 9:30-11, Room 185, Barrows Hall
cc# 26215
***(revised 10/16/98)***
There are two required paperback books
- Norman Vig and Michael Kraft, eds., Environmental Policies in the 1990s
- David Howard Davis, Energy Politics (4th ed.)
There will also be a reader containing the referenced articles in the syllabus:
However, the reader will not be available until the second week of the term
Syllabus
I 8/25-8/27 Introduction to the course and the material
Norman Vig and Michael Kraft, eds., Environmental Policies in the 1990s, Chapter 1 (This book is required)
David Howard Davis, Energy Politics, Introduction (This book is required)
The Public Policy Perspective
II 9/1-9/3 Energy Policy: Traditional (Fossil) Fuels: History and Politics
Davis, Chapters 2-5
III 9/8-9/10 Environmental Policy and Policy-Making
Vig and Kraft, Chapters 4, 6 and 8.
Anthony Downs, "Up and Down with Ecology: The 'Issue-Attention' Cycle", The Public Interest, 28 (1972), 38-50.
(This is the first article in the required reader).
"Cool It: Survey of Energy and the Environment," The Economist, 31 Aug. 1991.
The Political Economy Perspective
IV 9/15-9/17 Introduction to Political Economy of Energy and the Environment
Martin Stanisland, What is Political Economy? (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1985), 1-34.
Ernest J. Wilson III, "World Politics and International Energy Markets", International Organization, 41, 1 (Winter 1987), 125-149.
Reprise on Davis Chapter 3 (Oil)
V 9/22-9/24 Does Politics+Economics = Political Economy ??
Vig and Kraft, Chapters 9, 15, 16
"Power to the People: Survey of Energy and the Environment," Economist , June 18, 1994.
Franklin Tugwell, "Energy and Political Economy," Comparative Politics, 13, No. 1 (Oct. 1980), 103-118.
VI 9/29-10/1 Organizations and Their Politics I: Organizing for the Environment (The CAA and EPA)
David Howard Davis, American Environmental Politics (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1998), pp. 1-54.
Gary Bryner, Blue Skies, Green Politics, second edition, (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1995) pp. 96-134.
Vig and Kraft, Chapters 7 and 8. (reprise on 9)
Charles E. Davis and James P. Lester, "Federalism and Environmental Policy," in James P. Lester, ed., Environmental Politics and Policy: Theories and Evidence (Durham: Duke University Press, 1989), 57-86.
VII 10/6-10/8 Organizations and Politics II: Organizing for Energy
David Orr, "U.S. Energy Policy and the Political Economy of Participation," Journal of Politics, 41 (1979).
Charles O. Jones, "American Politics and the Organization of Energy Decision-Making," Annual Review of Energy, 4 (1979), 99-121.
Davis, Chapter 6.
James R. Temples, "The Politics of Nuclear Power: A Subgovernment in Transition," Political Science Quarterly, 95, No. 2 (summer 1980), pp. 239-260.
Tuesday 10/13 Mid-Term Examination
Insiders and Outsiders
Thursday 10/13-15 Insiders: Nuclear Power and the Search for Oil
Gene I. Rochlin, "Broken Plowshare: System Failure and the Nuclear Power Industry," from Jane Summerton, ed.,Changing Large Technical Systems (Boulder CO: Westview, 1994), 231-264.
Colin J. Campbell and Jean H. Laherrère, "The End of Cheap Oil," Scientific American, March 1998, 78-83.
IX . 10/20-22 Experts and Intervenors I
Vig and Kraft, Ch. 11 (Environmental Justice)
"In Their Back Yard," The Economist, 17 May 1997, p. 31.
Michael Lipsky, "Protest as a Political Resource," American PoliticalScience Review, 62 (1968), 1144-1157.
Sheila Jasanoff, "The Dilemma of Environmental Democracy," Issues in Science and Technology, 13, No. 1 (Fall 1996), 63-70.
Amory Lovins, "Energy Strategy: The Industry, Small Business, and Public Stakes" and A. David Rossin, "The Soft Energy Path: Where Does it Really Lead?", from L.C. Ruedisili and M.W. Firebaugh, eds., Perspectives on Energy, 3d ed. (New York: Oxford, 1982), pp. 542-562.
X .Prof. Rochlin will be away 10/27, and either a guest lecturer will be present or another oil video will be shown.
Thurs. 10/29 Experts, Intervenors, and Protest Movements
Ian Clark, "Expert Advice in the Controversy About the SST in the United States," Minerva, 12, No. 4 (Oct. 1974), pp. 416-433.
Allan Mazur, The Dynamics of Technical Controversy, (Washington, D.C.: Communications Press, 1981), Chapter 2
Regulation, Deregulation, Re-regulation (CAA, Electricity)
XI 11/3-11/5 Regulation: History, Theory, Practice
Vig and Kraft, Chapters 8 and 16 (reprise), Chapter 10.
James Q. Wilson, "The Dead Hand of Regulation," The Public Interest, 25 (Fall 1971), pp. 54-78.
David Vogel, "The 'New' Social Regulation in Historical and Comparative Perspective," in T.K. McGraw, ed., Regulation in Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard U. Press, 1981), 155-186.
Richard A. Harris and Sidney M. Milkis, The Politics of Regulatory Change (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), 3-21.
The Economist, editorial on the US and regulation (August 1997).
XII 11/10-11/12 Four Models of the Regulatory Process: (I) - Command and Control vs. Markets
Vig and Kraft Chapters 9 and 12
William T. Gormley, jr., "Alternative Models of the Regulatory Process: Public Utility Regulation in the United States." Western Political Quarterly, 35, No. 3 (Sept. 1982), 297-317.
John P. Dwyer, "A Free Market in Tradeable Emissions is Slow Growing," IGS Public Affairs Report, 33, No. 1, January 1992, p. 1.
Robert W. Hahn and Roger G. Noll, "Environmental Markets in the Year 2000," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 3, No. 4 (December 1990) , pp. 351-367.
XIII 11/17-11/19 Four Models of the Regulatory Process (II) - Mandates and Social Negotiation
Robert W. Hahn, "The Politics and Religion of Clean Air," Regulation, Winter 1990, 21-30.
Sheila Jasanoff, "Procedural Changes in Regulatory Science," Technology in Society, 17, No. 3, 1995: 279-293.
Gary Bryner, Blue Skies, Green Politics, second edition, Chapter 6, "Formulating and Implementing Clean Air Policy: An Assessment," (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1995), pp. 236-264.
Jaqueline Vaughn Switzer with Gary Bryner, Environmental Politics, 2nd ed. (New York: St. Martin's, 1998), 235-256.
XIV 11/24 Deregulation of Electric Utilities
Barbara R. Barcovich and Dianne V. Hawk, "Charting a New Course in California," IEEE Spectrum, July 1996, 26-31
Albert T. Crane and Robin Roy, "Competition, Trading, and the Reliability of Electric Power Service," Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 17 (1992), 161-186.
"Chopping Up America's Power," The Economist, 3 May 1997, 21-22.
"Intoxicated by Power," The Economist, 14 June 1997, 65-66.
11/26 THANKSGIVING
XV 12/1-12/3 REVIEW and SUMMARY (And What About Global Warming ?)
John Harte, "Can We Stop Global Warming?" USA Today, March 1997, 78-83.
"Reading the Patterns," The Economist, 15 April 1995, 65-67.
"Stay Cool" and "Warm Words," The Economist, 14 June 1997, 11; 89-90.
Vig and Kraft Chapter 17
Switzer and Bryner, Environmental Politics, Chap. 6 (115-140).
Final exam: Friday 12/11/98, 8-11 am. Room TBA
Lecture Notes:
Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4:Week 5: Week 6: Week 7:
Week 9: Week 10: Week 11: Week 12: Week 13: Week 14: Week 15
ERG 151 is an introductory survey course for upper-division undergraduates and graduate students with little or no background in the social and political dimensions of energy and environmental policy. Open to ERG graduate students only with permission from Prof. Rochlin (251 is usually more appropriate). The primary focus is on the politics and political economy of the two intertwined systems of energy production and use and environmental insult and remediation. The approach is an interactive double survey: different aspects of energy and the environment will be used to explore different approaches to analysis and understanding; different tools for analysis will be used to explore selected issues in some depth. On the way, we will also survey such history and technical detail as might be appropriate. The focus will be primarily on the United States: elements of regional or global politics will be introduced where they influence or shape domestic politics and policies.
The first part of the course is organized around specific issues and/or problem areas (e.g., oil, renewable energy sources, nuclear power, electrical utility deregulation, the Clean Air Act, global warming), using them as a means to explore various analytical and descriptive tools drawn from political economy (e.g., a combination of history, economics, political relations, and socio-cultural factors), with excursions into policy analysis, organization theory, a little bit of sociology, and even some social anthropology, as well as `straight' political science theory. The purpose is to familiarize the students with these various approaches to understanding and analyzing the existing technical and policy literature -- and to reframe it.
There are no prerequisites, but Energy and Resources 100, or the equivalent, is highly recommended. Students will be expected to be familiar enough with energy technology and the sources of environmental harm to deal with the appropriate policy issues in an informed way. Some familiarity with social science language and methods will also be helpful. The class has typically been a mix of students from such diverse fields as political science, natural resources, environmental science, public policy, political economy, anthropology, engineering, and, various of the physical and biological sciences. The details and structure of the course will depend to some extent on the class mix, as determined during the first week.
There will be two required texts and a reader. Required are:
David Howard Davis, Energy Politics, 4th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993), and Norman J. Vig and Michael E. Kraft, Environmental Policy in the 1990s, (Washington D.C.: CQ Press, 3d ed, 1996).
There will also be occasional readings from various other sources, and a few video viewings. There are no problem sets or sections. Grades will be based on a mid-term examination (about 1/3 of the grade), and a final (the remaining 2/3).