Public Policy in America

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

How is public policy made? Who makes it? How has it shaped the world around us, how does it continue to do so? This course will expose you to real world problems, exploring key themes, questions, and tensions within the world of public policy through varied disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. Topics may include a range of issues such as those around housing policy and racial segregation; education; criminal justice and the carceral state; social movements; voting rights; urban policy and land use; education policy; public health policy; and more. The course will address how policy is made, focusing on issues of power, with an effort to understand how political institutions, stakeholders and interest groups, and social movements come together to create public policy and shape the policy process. We will highlight issues of equity, learning about how policy affects groups differently and how various actors have differential access to the policy process. Throughout the course, students will be exposed to a range of qualitative methods and experiential learning through case studies and class exercises. Students will also learn to understand the range of contexts (city, state, federal, and international contexts incorporating varying political systems) in which policy matters, and how policy differs across them. Not only will students learn how to interpret policy research, they will also learn practical skills to communicate effectively about public policy and engage in the policy process.