Policy Making in a Global Age
Spring 2025
Amb. (ret) Larry André
Course Description
This course considers how global policy is made and implemented from a practitioner perspective and an academic/theoretical perspective informed by the instructor’s 40-year career in international public affairs. We begin with a unit on the Art and Science of decision making in general and global policy making in particular. We then review foundational (“enduring”) policies that have dominated intergroup relations since prehistory, global cooperation policies which began with institutions in the 1800s, and international order policies that date from the late 1940s. We consider historical and contemporary examples from around the globe, weighed toward contemporary international policies concerning the United States. We identify the core elements of foreign policy-making through the ages and current trends and realities, such as changes wrought by new technologies, new groups, new issues and new tools. We examine the formal policy-making and policy implementation apparatus of government, domestic actors outside government who influence policy, and international actors who influence policy. We review decision making models, policy goal setting, and determination of interests served or harmed by various policy options. We cannot cover all salient global issues and policymaking/policy implementation mechanisms in one semester. Rather, this course aims to equip students with facts and intellectual frameworks to help them think about the world and the role of policy in it, both formulation and implementation.
This is a hybrid lecture and discussion seminar. Active student participation in class discussions, informed by thorough engagement with the instructional sources (readings and other media), is essential. Assessments consist of midterm and final exams (last day of class), discussion blog contributions, two writing assignments, and an oral presentation (briefing).
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