One of the primary purposes of government is to serve the public good by
developing and executing policies that benefit society as a whole. However, the process of determining what is best for society often generates debates and controversy. This course is concerned with the give and take, bargaining, competition and compromise that arise from the politics of policy development. This course introduces students to theories that seek to explain the mechanics of policy change through the stages of agenda setting, policy adoption, policy design, policy feedback, and policy implementation. Together these theories help establish why some policy reforms will successfully be adopted and implemented while others will fail.
The course provides an introduction to the process of decision-making in American government. How are public policies formulated and how are they implemented? How are problems defined, agendas set, information deployed, decisions reached, and decisions put into effect? What is the role of the analyst in this process? In short, how does the public policy process work? With this theoretical foundation, students will gain tangible professional skills by writing beautifully crafted, rhetorically effective, and incredibly concise policy reports/memos on public policy issues they are passionate about. In this process, students will critically analyze a social, political, or economic problem and utilize the theories we cover in the course to develop a plan of action to solve that policy problem.