Politics 273 - Public Policy

Want to change your government for the better? This course is concerned with the practical business of how, focusing on the often invisible and underappreciated public servants who do the hard work of designing, implementing and enforcing the policies and programs on which modern societies depend. Their work is often nonideological, yet modern democracies have long harbored suspicions of the power of unelected bureaucrats. Students in this course will study these debates over the organization and functions of modern state administration, familiarize themselves with policymaking processes, and engage in designing practical solutions to some of the most pressing social issues of the present.