Description

The Center for Environmental Politics seeks to play a leadership role in producing and disseminating empirical social science research on new modes of environmental politics, policy, and governance at local, regional, national, and global levels. The Centerʼs 24 Faculty Associates are leaders in their fields and the 18 Graduate Fellows are working on exciting doctoral projects.

Although there has been substantial progress in the development of technical and scientific knowledge about the causes of several environmental problems, the translation of these ideas into politically feasible governance regimes has been a major stumbling block. The repeated lessons of these failures underscore the basic point that environmental challenges pose distinctive political and governance challenges that need to be addressed with equal footing to their economic and technical dimensions. Therefore, the agenda of the proposed Center is motivated by two core questions. First, why, despite the fact that the risks and costs associated with many environmental problems are substantial, and there are attractive technical solutions to address them, individual as well as organizations are not adequately motivated to address them? Second, how can be devise institutions and governance structures to respond to environmental challenges.

Partners

UW College of Arts & Sciences, College of the Environment, Milgard School of Business (Tacoma), School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences (Bothell), Department of Political Science, Department of Geography, Jackson School of International Studies, Department of Philosophy, Department of Scandinavian Studies, Department of Communication, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, School of Environmental and Forestry Sciences, Division of Politics, and Philosophy & Public Affairs (Tacoma)