Community Planning and Decision Making
Rich Borden
Isabel Mancinelli Albert Einstein once observed that, “No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” If Einstein’s Lab fee: $40 idea is accurate about how humans understand the universe, it is likewise true of how we plan and manage our relationships with the environment. One of the primary aims of human ecology is to explore new ways to envision human environment relations. Within its integrative perspective, scientific knowledge and human aesthetics can be combined in ways that enrich human communities as well as value and protect the rest of the living world. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a foundation of theory and practical skills in ecological policy and community planning. A broad range of ideas and methodologies will be explored, using real examples of current issues — such as sprawl, smart growth, gateway communities, watershed based regional planning, land trusts, and alternative transportation systems. We will be joined by the actual leaders of these changes locally and state-wide in Maine. We will also examine emerging methodologies that emphasize participatory planning, community capacity-building, and empowering marginalized groups. These models and ideas will be further compared with prominent approaches and case studies from elsewhere around the country. As a part of current ideas about community planning and policy, the course also introduces small group collaboration techniques, and the use of computers to enhance complex decision processes. A field component will take advantage of varied external opportunities — including town meetings, conferences, and public events. Evaluations will be based on class participation, several short research papers, and an end of term small group project.
Comparing Government: Models, Structures, and Case Studies
Jamie McKown
This course will provide a broad overview of various models of government as currently practiced across the globe. We will ask a variety of questions about what it means to compare governments. How do different models reflect varying histories, priorities, and outcomes? How does the structure of government adapt to, and have an influence on governing culture in a particular setting? Is it possible to say that some models are better than others? What do we mean by government in the first place? Course readings will include a combination of case studies from across the globe as well as broader secondary texts related to theory and method. The class will also explore the traditional “models” approach to government, how these models are practiced in various contexts, the relationship of governance culture and civil society to the structural elements of government, and the possibility of new methods for approaching the question of “just” government. Evaluation will be based on: class participation, individual short assignments, in-class presentations, team projects, and a final research report. No experience in political science, government, international affairs, or related coursework, is necessary. This is an ideal course for those students planning to take future intermediate and advanced courses in governance, politics, international relations, diplomacy, political philosophy, etc.
Advanced Composition
Anne Kozak
This course has two goals: to aid the student in developing and refining a style and to make the student cognizant of the interaction between style, content, and audience. To achieve these goals, students write several short papers or one or two longer ones, meet regularly with the instructor to go over these, edit and discuss the exercises in Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams, and participate in review sessions. Prerequisites: Writing Seminar II, signature of instructor. Offered every winter.
Class limit: 10
Conflict and Peace
Gray Cox
How does conflict arise and how is it best dealt with? What is peace and how is it best arrived at or practiced? This course combines a study of major theoretical perspectives with lab work practicing skills and disciplines associated with different traditions of conflict resolution, conflict transformation and peacemaking. Readings will include Roger Fisher, William Ury, Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Walter Wink, Gene Sharp, Dorothy Day, Elise Boulding,
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