Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Mother Nature, Lady Justice: Ecofeminism And Judicial Decision-Making, Jonathan Alexis Picado

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Ecofeminism offers a feminist perspective that links gender to how humans relate to the natural world. As such, this framework explores the connections between the oppression of nature and the oppression of women, such as widespread views that both women and nature are property, are to be dominated, and are most valuable when cultivated and curated by men. I apply this philosophical and sociological framework to judicial decision-making, where women judges should view environmental issues as women's issues and thus be more likely to vote in favor of the environmental protections relative to her male peers. I evaluate this theory …

Saving The Smokies: Land Rights In The Middle And Mountain South, Robin J. Happel

Student Theses 2015-Present

From the Trail of Tears to the forced evictions that turned Cades Cove into a ghost town, Appalachia’s residents have long been betrayed by their governments. Currently, mountaintop removal – the destruction of hundreds of mountain peaks for coal – mirrors past abuses, and has sparked a new cycle of catastrophic health effects and land loss. This legacy of human rights abuses is far from Appalachia’s only option, however. In examining both the past and current socioeconomic structures that enable environmentally destructive practices like mountaintop removal, it is possible to chart a path forward. And, by adopting a system similar …

Environmental Justice Litigation In California: How Effective Is Litigation In Addressing Slow Violence?, Deedee Chao

CMC Senior Theses

As the environmental justice movement has spread and become more mainstream since its start in the 1980s, its framework and body of knowledge has expanded, and environmental justice activists, organizers, and scholars have developed and critiqued different methods through which environmental justice can be pursued. Among its relatively new concepts is the idea of slow violence, or the long-term and continuous impacts of environmental injustices on an afflicted community; and among the methods examined by scholars is environmental justice litigation, where legal action is taken, often with members of an affected community as plaintiffs, to remedy environmental injustices within that …

Judicial Behavior And Litigant Success In Environmental Cases At The United States Court Of Appeals, Elizabeth Wheat

Dissertations

This dissertation tests the legal model of judicial behavior and uses party capability, or litigant resource, theory to explain litigant success in the Court of Appeals for environmental cases and help understand the role litigant type and resources play. Environmental law has received little attention in judicial politics, and I examine which judicial behavior model explains case outcomes. The legal model argues case characteristics best explain judicial outcomes, whereas litigant resource theory posits judicial a litigant’s resources, or lack thereof, explain outcomes.

Galanter’s (1974) party capability theory focuses on advantages repeat players, the “haves,” possess and how these advantages enable …

May It Please The Environment?: A Study Of The Role Regional Location Plays In Influencing Federal Court Decisions On Fossil Fuel Cases, Stephen Perrott

Senior Independent Study Theses

No abstract provided.

International Environmental Regimes And Latin America : The Role Of Environmental Non-Governmental Organizations, Jennifer T. Eller

Dissertations and Theses

This study analyzes the obstacles to environmental policymaking in Latin America such as the poverty crisis, the North/South conflict and political corruption. These obstacles result in weak government institutions and create an opportunity for other actors to wield greater influence in the policymaking process.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of environmental agreements such as debt-for-nature swaps. Debt-for-nature swaps emerged as a solution to the conundrum of the debt crisis and environmental degradation. The cases of Bolivia, Costa Rica and Ecuador illustrate the tensions between development and environmental degradation. The most important lesson learned from these swaps is that the support …

The Legislative Process In The Virginia General Assembly: Ten Case Studies Of Environmental Legislation Proposed By Hampton Roads Cities, Betty Jean Meyer

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

This study addresses the following two questions: (1) How does the Virginia General Assembly process bills which are proposed by local governments in Virginia? and (2) Are there identifiable factors in this legislative process which could be impacted by local governments to influence legislative outcomes? These questions are addressed by focusing on ten case studies of environmental issues contained in legislative proposals of six cities in Hampton Roads Virginia for the 1987, 1988, and 1989 sessions of the General Assembly. The case data were compiled from records of the General Assembly, media accounts, and interviews with 19 legislators and other …