Rights of nature for the Colorado River

The Colorado River is the backbone of civilization in the Western United States, and it is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis. As drought tightens its grip on the Basin, a diverse array of stakeholders and policymakers are postured to negotiate a new policy regime for the Colorado River. This thesis will evaluate the likelihood of large-scale policy change that addresses this crisis and departs in scale from the incremental policy adjustments of the preceding decades. Broken up into three sections, this thesis will begin with a contextual overview of the current Colorado River policy regime, followed by a theoretical analysis of whether a "policy window" is open on the Colorado River. In the third section, the Rights of Nature movement will be evaluated as a regime candidate to fill this policy window.