PADM 6160 Public Policy Formulation and Implementation

Course Description

This is the MPA core course in public policy. Its focus is on why and how public policies are developed in the United States. Americans are constantly debating the merits of public policies designed to: improve the well-being of families and children; protect civil rights and liberties; reduce crime; as well as manage a whole range of other pertinent social problems. The question for political
scientists is: how do we describe and make sense of the way in which social problems get defined and redefined over time in legislation? Moreover, how do we understand how specific social and economic conditions capture the attention of our policymakers (while others do not) and how public policy “solutions” about these conditions are crafted, negotiated, and enacted? How would one define the success of a policy?

This course addresses these questions by examining several analytic frameworks used by political scientists to help describe and explain government policies. These models are not mutually exclusive but, solely, or in combination, help to highlight different aspects of the policymaking process. Some of them focus more on the actors of public policy (e.g. game theory, group theory, or advocacy coalition), while others emphasize the process of making public policy (e.g. stages model). Students will gain a
critical appreciation of how a triangulation of various political science approaches can help us to think clearly about societal problems and alternative responses to them.

Course Objectives

The primary objective of this course is a thorough introduction to policy-making processes in the American system of government. The comparative perspective will be introduced where necessary. After the completion of this course students should be able to

• apply policy frameworks to any selected policy analysis area;
• identify major policy players for a selected policy;
• follow a policy issue from its formulation or appearance on the agenda until evaluation or “sunset”;
• identify and emphasize the role of politics in formulating different public policies;
• recognize public policy consequences, intended and unintended;
• describe implementation process and how it can change the initially formulated policy;
• acknowledge the opportunity costs of policy action and non-action.