The large protests over the last few years at international gatherings ranging from the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Seattle in December 1999 to the World Economic Forum in New York in January 2002 point to widespread public concern about the environmental and social consequences of globalization. This course will explore the issues behind the protests, including environmental challenges such as burgeoning trade in timber and hazardous chemicals and related social threats such as growing income inequality and diminishing cultural diversity. We will also examine possible opportunities stemming from globalization, from growing commerce in environmentally beneficial products and technologies such as shade-grown coffee and wind power to the use of new communications technologies to create powerful international citizens' coalitions for change. And we will study institutional changes needed to shift the world economy onto a more environmentally and socially sustainable course, including reforming international economic organizations such as the WTO, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank and strengthening international environmental treaties and institutions. This course complements Environmental Studies 232(S) Managing Global Commons. Hilary French is the Class of 1946 Visiting Professor of International Environmental Studies in the autumn semester. She is Director of the Global Governance Project at the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and a consultant to the United Nations Environment Programme. Format: lecture/discussion. Requirements: midterm, 13- to 15-page research paper.

No prerequisites. No enrollment limit (expected: 25).

Hour: H. FRENCH