History of U.S. Public Policy

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course will examine the history behind three hot button federal policy debates: social welfare, civil rights, and immigration. For each policy area, we will track the histories of political and legislative debate as well as policy implementation and impact from before World War II into the present century. Which policy approaches were adopted and why? What factors led to major changes in policy? What were the relative roles of legislators, presidents and the executive branch, the judicial system, interest groups and lobbyists, grassroots activists, etc. What role did local, regional, national and international actors play in the formulation and implementation of new policies? Did federal policy changes work as intended and what were the unintended consequences of new policy initiatives? In addition, we will track debate over each policy area through the fall election season. To what extent is the history of policymaking in each area reflected in current political debate? How might broader historical knowledge of policy history improve political debate on a given issue? At the end of each course module, students will write a short historical background briefing paper on an aspect of one of the three policy areas. This course is intended for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Students are expected to keep up with the course readings, participate in class discussion, and conduct historical research in both primary and secondary sources.