Spring 2014 - 63446 - PA388K - Advanced Topics in Public Policy

This course will introduce students to major aspects of global environmental and health governance. The course will provide students with conceptual tools to understand why some problems are more difficult to resolve than others and delve deeply into issues related to design of international institutions. On the environmental side, students will become familiar with the leading international organizations dealing with environmental problems, the significant pieces of global rules governing the environment, the problems of collective action posed by various kinds of environmental problems, and the future of environmental governance. We will look in detail at a few issues, including rainforest and species conservation, ozone depletion, climate change, and fishers. We will also examine the different roles of non-state actors, including advocacy organizations and private for-profit actors, in this arena. In the health portion of the course, we will introduce students to major aspect of global public health from the perspective of a political scientist. We review historic attempts to deal with transnational health problems in the aftermath of World War II, including action international organizations like the World Health Organization and by private sector actors like the Rotary Club and the Carter Center. We will look at the emergent response to global health crises from the mid 1990s on, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. We will also look at the challenges to this effort, including the problems of strengthening public health systems and disease prevention. The course will examine emergent challenges for global health response from potentially quickly dispersing infectious diseases like SARS and bird flu. Finally, we will look at the role of new actors in the global health arena such as the Gates Foundation