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Faculty Members Staff |
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Background: I received a Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1967 and am a founding member of the Transformational Politics section of the American Political Science Association. I am active at the State Legislature and County Councils, write frequent op-ed articles, and am politically active with students and environmental groups. Since 1992, I have served as one of co-chairs of the Hawai`i Green party.
Research Interests: My fields of interest include politics of Hawai`i, media and politics, Green philosophy, sustainable development, and alternative futures.
Selected Publications:
1992 A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook for Development Alternatives, which has become a model for sustainable development advocates in Hawai'i and Pacific islands.
My recent academic writings include:
Fruits of Resistance: HawaiíI Islanders Stop Oji Paper Social Forces (Summer 2001)
Hawai`i--Victim of Global Forces, Seeds for Sustainability--Can Future-Oriented Governance be Created?
Community-Action Partnerships: Bettering Government by Sharing Power with Citizens
A Green Economy for Hawai`i
Courses Taught:
POLS 110 FS The politics of everyday life (Spring 2001 Freshman Seminar) . This introductory political science course is subtitled "the Politics of Everyday Life" because it examines issues often skipped over in usual discussions about politics and government, and asks some "deeper" questions than who wins what and how they do it? For example:
We critically question conventional assumptions and values, and constantly ask how the readings apply to our own everyday actions, hopes, and fears. The Freshman Seminar Leader does not give lectures, or normally assign out-of-the-book check-the-right-answer exams. Instead the course is organized around critically discussing class readings, researching recent materials and new ideas, and writing several reports.
Texts: Holsworth and Wray, American Politics And Everyday Life. [Xerox available at Professional Image]; Ira Rohter, A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook For Development Alternatives; Handouts from Michael Parenti's Make-Believe Media: The Politics of Entertainment; Nimmo & Combs' Mediated Political Realities. (Syllabus)
POLS 335G Environmental Politics (Fall 2001) Examines the expanded "deeper" version of sustainable development in many settings, large and small, from local communities to national Green Plans. We will look at alternative approaches such as "civic environmentalism," "industrial ecology," "natural capitalism," and "smart growth." These newer principles of sustainable development are now being fleshed out with specific alternative policies and decision-making processes to guide national and local decision-makers. We are especially interested in agency and activism — "Who will bring about these remarkable changes?" and "What should be their strategies?"
Students will write brief biweekly papers responding analytically to assigned readings, connect global issues to Hawai`i, interview political actors, and write a final Overview Essay that examines a specific topic in light of major concepts explored in this course.
Texts: John Allen, Annual Editions: Environment—2001/2002 Paul Hawkin, The Ecology Of Commerce. Lester Brown, State Of The World: 1999 Brian Tokar, Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in Age of Corporate Greenwash + xeroxs. (Syllabus)
POLS 380 Politics of Hawai`i (Fall 2001) This course helps us understand how the daily happenings of Hawai`i's politics, and our personal and collective lives, are expressions of values and powerful social, political, and economic forces impacting on us. And considers its future.
Where are the islands heading? As Hawai`i enters the 21st Century, its citizens face several major challenges. For 30 years after Statehood the Islands enjoyed a booming economy. But since 1992, Hawai`i's economy has been struggling, as its old cash cows of tourism, military spending, and plantation agriculture flatted out. Top Island leaders sought to revive tourism and adopt conservative economic theory (Reaganomics) by giving hugely more tax money to the tourism industry, cutting funds to public service programs, lowering taxes for the better off and corporations, and doing whatever is necessary to attract more offshore investors. These changes will supposedly produce a bright, prosperous "Pacific Center" era.
What will our future be? "Genuine education is liberating. It constantly questions the `givenness' of our heritage and teaches us to think not only about what is, but also about what might be." Thus this course constantly considers the possibility of creating "an alternative vision" to the hyper-growth and big-business dominated model being pushed on these Islands by globalism. Can we instead craft a Hawai`i that is based more on our values of malama `aina, aloha and `ohana, that nurtures ecological balance, grassroots political participation, human-scale decentralized government, and a local-people-first economy?
Major Texts:Tom Coffman, Catch a Wave: A Case Study of Hawai`i's New Politics.[xerox]; Ronald Takaki, Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawai`i; Noel Kent, Hawai`i: Islands Under the Influence; Ira Rohter, A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook for Development Alternatives. (Syllabus)
POLS 381 Hawai`i Politics — II Current Issues (Spring 1999, Writing Intensive) Examines major issues confronting Hawai`i today, and especially, the deeper social, cultural, ecological, economic, and political forces that underlie them. Students follow one group closely that is involved in political activism. Intellectually we also critically consider political changes that are creating "an alternative vision" to the trends of globalism, economic rationalism and hyper-growth, based on sustainable development principles.
Hawai`i's economic élite and political powerbrokers are striving to boost the present economy by attracting even more offshore investors to further develop mass tourism and commercial projects. In sum, the élite wants Hawai`i to be even more linked to global capitalism.
Many Islanders, however, oppose Hawai`i's over-development. They see its economy becoming even more dominated by powerful transnational corporations, with growing extremes of rich and poor. Alternatives to Hawai`i becoming an over-developed tourist Mecca are being advanced by diverse groups on all islands.
Class readings examine the political-economy and social forces that influence this mid-Pacific island society. We also consider "alternatives" and fundamental political changes that would bring about a Hawai`i that emphasizes:
Texts: Tom Coffman, Catch A Wave: A Case Study Of Hawai`i's New Politics; Randell Roth (ed.) Price of Paradise-II; Ira Rohter, A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook For Development Alternatives; Noel Kent, Hawai`i: Islands Under the Influence; Haunani Trask, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism & Sovereignty in Hawai`i; Osborn & Graeber, Re-Inventing Government. (Syllabus)
POLS 646f Political Ecology and Sustainable Development (Fall 2000): Global capitalism is on a rampage. While rampant growth and industrialization are creating huge amounts of wealth, the planet is besieged by ecological crises and appalling economic, social, and political injustices. Though various bandaid reforms are proposed, far-sighted thinkers are advocating an alternative to the conventional "growth-is-good" philosophy that guides most public policymaking at local, national, and international levels.
"Sustainable Development" minimally emphasizes that economic activities be ecologically sound. More radical proponents add other criteria to the definition of sustainability, arguing that "good development" should also meet multiple needs (not just jobs and economic growth), preserve indigenous values, and advance self-reliance and structural transformation. "Green" theorists encourage participatory democracy and decentralized decision-making, a community-based self-reliant economy, social justice, people-friendly community design, integrated waste management, soft energy use, etc. and a deeper understanding of natural biosystems.
We explore the concept of "sustainable development" in many settings, large and small, from local communities to national Green Plans. The course emphasizes a mixture of theory and practice, as applied to "green philosophy," "managing" sustainable development, urban design, and new styles of policy making and politics called "civic environmentalism," "industrial ecology," and "natural capitalism."
Texts: Andrew Dobson, Green Political Thought (2nd ed); Paul Ekins, The Living Economy: A New Economics in The Making; Ira Rohter, A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook For Development Alternatives; Michael Carley & Ian Christie, Managing Sustainable Development; Huey Johnson, Green Plans: Greenprint For Sustainability; Paul Hawkin, The Ecology Of Commerce; Lester Brown, State Of The World: 1999; Chertow & Esty, Thinking Ecologically: The Next Generation of Environmental Policies. (Syllabus)
POLS 686 Politics of Hawai`i (Spring 2001): Examines major issues in contention in Hawai`i today, and, especially, the deeper social, cultural, ecological, economic, and political forces that influence this mid-Pacific island society. We also ponder Hawai`i's future. Given the trends of globalism, economic rationalism, and hyper-growth impacting Hawai`i, can an alternative direction, based on "sustainable development" principles, be created here?
Hawai`i enters the 21st Century with its extraordinary beauty and lifestyle threatened by many problems. Hawai`i's economy, once bountiful, has been struggling for the last 7 years. Its sugar and pineapple plantations have mostly closed down, its military bases are shrinking, and its main economic engine — tourism — requires great promotional efforts after years of easy hyper-growth. New political leadership is being called for, as the leaders of the Democratic Party, after 40 year of dominant single-party rule, stumble along. Many citizens are clamoring for more open political processes and other major governmental changes. The Islands' once dazzlingly beautiful environment, already severely degraded, is further threatened. Native Hawaiians, illegally dispossessed from their lands more than a hundred years ago, are mounting strident demands for justice and for control of land and water rights. These Islands represents a microcosm of changes occurring the global .
The course critically considers the possibility of creating "an alternative vision" to the trends of economic rationalism and hyper-growth being promoted by mainstream leaders. Can fundamental political changes occur that would bring about a different kind of Hawai`i, perhaps based on the values of malama `aina and `ohana?
Texts: Randell Roth (ed.) Price of Paradise-II; Noel Kent, Hawai`i: Islands Under the Influence; Haunani Trask, From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty In Hawai`i; Tom Coffman, Catch A Wave: A Case Study Of Hawai`i's New Politics; Ira Rohter, A Green Hawai`i: Sourcebook For Development Alternatives; Osborne & Gaebler, Reinventing Government; xeroxes from Paul Hawken, Ecology of Commerce and Natural Capitalism; Eben Fodor, Better Not Bigger; Richard Pratt & Zachary Smith, Hawai`i Politics and Government. (Syllabus)
For more information about Ira Rohter, click here
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