POSC240L - Introduction to Public Policy

3 Credit(s)

Liberal Arts
This course examines the interaction of institutions, values, and politics in public policy. How does the U.S. political system structure and constrain the policy process? How do public problems get defined and selected for governmental action (or not)? How do we decide among various policy options for addressing public problems? How are public programs evaluated, and how do we learn from them? Our approach to these and other questions will acknowledge that public policy is inherently political and cannot be understood apart from the political processes and institutions in which it is created and implemented. The goal of the course is to encourage students to think critically about policy debates and be informed participants in the process.

Prerequisite(s): POSC 110L