Philanthropic foundations frequently play critical roles in public policy innovation and development. Sometimes these roles are evident to the general public, as in the case of the Green Revolution, the world-wide proliferation of micro-credit institutions, or the precursors to the U.S. poverty program of the 1960s. In the current era, many people know about the Gates Foundationâs worldwide campaign to combat HIV-AIDS. More often, the role of foundations are more obscure--encouraging policy entrepreneurs, backing critical research, sponsoring pilot projects, underwriting advocacy for particular policy outcomes. Behind an impressive number of policy innovations one can find philanthropyâs fingerprint. Foundations have been influencing public policy outcomes since the modern era of foundations began more than a century ago, but their involvement in public affairs has notably increased since the 1960s. Today, with American foundations alone making grants of over $35 billion each year, foundations are increasingly prominent actors in public affairs nationally and internationally. Moreover, new foundations are being formed at an increasing rate by wealthy people apparently impatient with traditional philanthropy and eager to apply to the field new perspectives reflecting their backgrounds as business entrepreneurs. This course will treat the variety of ways that foundations strive to influence public policy, and will identify critical issues grantmakers confront in their efforts, including the responses of other actors in the political system, and the responses of grant recipients. It will also take up some of the key debates currently embroiling the philanthropic sector. Students taking the course should gain significant insights into foundation decision-making, the potential of the sector to contribute to the common good, and the challenges confronted by foundations in achieving their objectives.
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This course will examine the profound demographic, economic, social, and cultural forces are reshaping the nation and what public policies, governance structures, and other innovations are taking place on the federal, state, and local levels to respond to these changes. In particular, this course will focus on the emergence of metropolitan areas as the new geographic units of the 21st century. In the U.S., metropolitan areas are home to over 80 percent of the nation's residents, 84 percent of American jobs, and 85 percent of the nation's economic output. In short, metropolitan areas are literally where America lives. However, despite broad confirmation that metropolitan areas matter, and an increase in metropolitan interest and thinking and action, federal and state policies for the most part ignore these places. In addition to an examination of broad demographic and economic trends, this course will examine metropolitan growth patterns, governance, the health of cities and inner suburbs, as well as policy issues that are inherently metropolitan including transportation and housing.
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This course will review policies designed to affect employment outcomes in the U.S. Topics will include minimum wage and overtime laws, job training, unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, immigration policies, equal opportunity laws and Affirmative Action, and occupational safety and health regulation.
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The objective of this course is to use the tools and insights of public policy to assess the intersection of race, ethnicity and politics. The following questions will be considered: 1) To what extent do race and ethnicity influence urban policies and politics? 2) How do racial and ethnic groups use public policies to achieve their desired goals? 3) What are the major theoretical and conceptual perspectives of race, ethnicity and class? and 4) What is the role of a myriad of related external factors that intersect with race and ethnicity (i.e., income inequality, inadequate fiscal resources, a lack of clear priorities, poor public management, etc.)?
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Effective government is critical to helping secure the public welfare, achieve a just social order, create an environment in which private enterprise can thrive, and plan for a society's future. While many would agree with these propositions, the role and capacity of government in fact is highly contested. Historically the role of government has varied over time in all countries. However, over the last 25 years, the responsibilities of governments, their size, the scope of their responsibilities, and their capacity have been particularly challenged by proponents of privatization, downsizing, deregulation and other approaches to limit government. Many of these perspectives are echoed in other democracies around the globe, and are reinforced in developing countries by international financial institutions which have tended to recommend smaller government, reduced government subsidies, and privatizing public assets. The broad theme of the course is that the scope and capacity of government is critical not only to affecting outcomes in particular policy areas such as education, health care and the environment, but as very broad policy decisions themselves.
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National Economic Issues is designed to give students an understanding of major issues facing economic policy makers at the national level and how federal economic policy is made. The course will focus on monetary policy decisions of the Federal Reserve, budgetary decisions of the administration and the congress, social security reform, and the federal government's fiscal interaction with state and local governments. It will also highlight some challenges to free-market capitalism, such as ensuring corporate integrity and providing adequate incomes.
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This course is designed for students interested in deepening their knowledge related to juvenile justice policy and practice. Students will be provided an opportunity to think critically about the efficacy of current policy and practice and the key areas for reform. Topics to be covered will include: the history of the juvenile justice system, including a review of the current status of the system and juvenile crime trend data; research examining the pathways that children and youth follow into delinquent behavior; and the evolution of, and evidence behind, current policy and practice. There will also be a focus on the way research, politics and policy development interact in "driving" systems change. The course will also investigate special issues in juvenile justice, such as leadership of systems reform efforts, workforce recruitment and retention; the disproportionate representation of children of color in the system; provision of educational, substance abuse, and mental health services; gender based disparities in treatment; youth. family and community engagement strategies; and multi-systems approaches in juvenile justice reform. The course will conclude with an exploration of effective practices in the prevention of delinquency and intervention programs that work to reduce recidivism and achieve better long term outcomes for youth. The course format will combine lecture, group discussions, jurisdictional case studies, and limited guest presentations.
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This course considers a variety of issues in contemporary education policy related to improving the performance of elementary and secondary schools. Particular attention is devoted to various accountability reform efforts that seek to improve performance by changing the incentives for performance facing teachers, principals, students and parents. Examples of such reforms include merit pay, grade retention, high school exit exams, school report cards, state-initiated accountability systems as in Florida, and at the federal level the No Child Left Behind act. The class also considers reforms that focus on using market-like mechanisms to improve school performance, including charter schools and other forms of public or private school choice. Several themes will be emphasized throughout the course including the role of evidence and cost-benefit analysis in evaluating policy options, understanding the causal effect of a particular program, input-based versus output-based accountability reforms, and the role of incentives, prices, and markets.
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This course focuses on K-12 differences in educational attainment and outcomes by race and ethnicity in the US. The effects of a variety of educational reform proposals, as well as social-policy interventions targeted towards childrensâ family and neighborhood environments, are covered extensively.
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This course focuses on the problems and issues involved in "learning beyond high school." Students will develop a research agenda that takes into consideration a number of policy questions: for example, the backlash against affirmative action in school admissions, the uncertainty over skill requirements for the new technological economy, the connections between K-12 reforms and postsecondary learning, and issues related to the continuing education of out-of-work adults and young adults.
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This class will provide an overview of housing and homelessness policy goals, tools, and performance in the U.S. over the last seven decades. Students will gain a thorough understanding of the federal, state, and local institutions that make and implement housing and homeless assistance policies. Readings and discussions will explore a broad definition of what it means for policy to succeed, and will review evidence on the performance of basic programmatic approaches, including homelessness assistance, rental assistance, homeownership assistance, and regulatory policies. Over the course of the semester, students will prepare several short memos applying housing policy principles to conditions and needs in particular communities. Issue areas will include timely topics such as responding to homelessness during an economic recession and what to do about the foreclosure crisis. In addition, each student will develop and defend a comprehensive housing strategy, targeted to a particular city or metropolitan region, defining a hierarchy of housing policy objectives and a combination of programmatic initiatives to achieve these objectives.
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This course provides an introduction to the following course themes: 1) Values (and not just interests) are fundamental to public policy, and so sophisticated policy analysts should understand the roles that values can play in policy analysis and the policy process; 2) Values are contested in that political actors interpret core values (e.g., equity, liberty, justice, security, efficiency) in conflicting ways and also place different weights on different values; 3) Differing institutional arrangements (markets, democracy, authority) enhance certain values and potentially suppress others; 4) Differing forms of reasoning (e.g., utilitarianism, deontology, or casuistry) offer differing ways to reach conclusions regarding value choices, but that no method can be demonstrated to provide the answer to these choices; 5) The systematic analysis of values can provide policy recommendations that are superior to those made without systematic reflection; 6) Policy analysts should be able to provide a reasoned explanation regarding the values embedded in the policy recommendations they make.
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This course is designed to raise studentsâ awareness and understanding of the moral context of international affairs (North and South), and their own role as effective moral agents. The course will challenge students to cultivate their abilities in the discipline of reflective moral thinking, and introduce them to the spectrum of prominent moral theories and their application to critical challenges in the pursuit of human well-being, lives of meaning, and ecological integrity. There are many strong indications that there is a growing influence of explicitly moral thinking in international development, conflict, environment, and political analyses, theory, policy, and practice â a premise that warrants close scrutiny from the outset of the course and repeated consideration in the weeks that follow.
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The goal of the course is to examine the public policies, legal and political structures that currently determine democratic deliberation in the U.S. Rather than looking at media as a consumer product, a means of entertainment or as a business, this course will focus on the political relationship between citizens and media/telecommunications companies. The course will require readings (roughly half a book per week) that explore the constitutional and regulatory structures that determine the character of this political relationship, the history and theories behind these structures, and present battles over media concentration and telecommunications infrastructure. Preparation and participation are required for this seminar. My goal is for the student to develop a clear understanding of how public policy shapes and is in turn shaped by the structure of communication at the local, state and national level. Two 10-15 page papers and a group project will determine the grade.
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Few questions are more vexing or inherently controversial than the relationship of the media to politics and policy-making. There is even dispute over what constitutes "the media." This course is organized around particular problems raised in the debate and specific media institutions. Some of the problems given particular attention are the press' coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign, the ability of media institutions to police themselves and the role of journalists in political campaigns. Attention will also be paid to media innovations, including the increasing importance of the Web, the rise of the blogs, talk radio and National Public Radio, and the rise of media polling. Guests with particular expertise and experience have been invited to help lead sessions devoted to their areas of interest. The reading list includes popular and journalistic works - including the work of journalists who will meet with the class - as well as the work of scholars. Students will be encouraged to bring their own perspectives to bear, and are strongly urged to add to the reading list and to exchange readings with each other (and their instructor). Students will be required to produce one research paper (20 to 25 pages in length) touching on a problem of their choosing in the area of media and politics. Students will play a central role in organizing the final session of the course.
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. Public policy and politics are inseparable. To try to make public policy without an understanding and appreciation of politics is like trying to raise fresh vegetables without gardening and fertilizer. Understanding the contemporary political campaign, its unique nature, and every campaign's distinct Seven Elements, can be enormously important in the making of public policy. A personal knowledge of the campaign â and how to participate in and influence it â can be enormously advantageous to the policy person. This course will seek to show students the indivisibility between policy and politics, and to help students become more effective policy makers by becoming more politically savvy and effective.
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This course introduces students to public management: actors performing managerial roles in the pursuit of public purposes and programs. Participants will examine the constraints public managers face in a democratic society; how the challenges of public management vary across different organizational and policy settings; and how public management and policy analysis frequently intersect. A key objective is to offer students a useful mix of theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on management as a function performed in all sectors (public, nonprofit, and private) but, when appropriate, participants focus on what factors make public management distinctive and more challenging. Some of the specific topics covered include: executive leadership; the role of front-line operators and middle managers; organizational culture; problems of bureaucratic coordination and dysfunction; how Congress, the President, and the courts can influence the public bureaucracy; managing people; managing budgets; privatization and contracting out; ethics in public management; performance management and strategic planning; and management reform strategies. Frequently, case studies and guest speakers are used to explore specific challenges, scenarios and experiences.
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This course provides a comparative introduction to public management in a comparative perspective. The first part of the course examines basic issues of governmental organization (e.g., relationships between civil servants and politicians, budgeting, recruitment, organizational culture, accountability mechanisms). The second and third sections of the course examine public management reforms and policy implementation. Throughout the course, there will be a balance between general and theoretical materials and case materials. The class will focus on the experiences of less developed countries with relevant examples drawn from advanced industrial countries.
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Credits: 3
Score: 5.473717 Details | Listing | Web page
This course gives students an overview of the policy issues facing citizens and their representatives in contemporary American cities, with special emphasis on Washington. It examines how American cities evolved in response to economic, technological and demographic forces. It addresses the politics of cities, the relation of central cities to their suburbs, the evolution of federal and state policy toward cities, and contemporary efforts to revitalize distressed areas of central cities and older suburbs. The course is national in scope, but focuses especially on Georgetown Universityâs home town of Washington, D.C. We will discuss how national urban trends and conflicts are reflected in this region, in what respects Washington is unique and how it is similar to other cities, and how local and regional policy issues can be resolved.
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Various academic disciplines have produced different theories about the nature, purposes, and operations of organizations. In the first half of the course we will survey these theories of organizations from political science, engineering, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc. What are the historical and philosophical origins of these theories? What descriptive and operational values does each bring to the understanding of todayâs organizations? In the second half of the course, we will look at theories of organizational change and related interventions that have been developed to strategically improve the performance and environments of organizations. Leadership and management competencies for implementing and sustaining change in different types of organizations will then be explored.
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This course will introduce you to the roles, processes, challenges, and salience of financial management primarily in the public sector. You will learn about the fiscal demands and problems that public managers typically face, and how they seek to address them. Although we will spend a few weeks discussing standard budgeting questions and practices, the bulk of the course will be spent on topics related to the implementation of budgets such as public accounting, purchasing, debt management, risk management, and productivity enhancement. You should bring from the course a conceptual knowledge of the field adequate for you to converse intelligently with and understand the work of accountants, budget professionals, and financial managers. At the end of the course you also will be able to perform standard financial management operations with broad applications.
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This course examines the importance of leadership in devising public policies and implementing these. It looks both at political executives and top government officials, with primary focus on executive leadership in the US federal government. The emphasis is on the following issues: What differences do the personalities and styles of leaders make? To what extent are key players constrained institutionally? How might we assess whether leaders have performed optimally, satisfactorily or sub-optimally considering their circumstances? The course takes pains to locate players within the wider frame of executive-bureaucratic politics.
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This course is designed to provide a broad overview of the field of population studies. It introduces students to basic methods of demographic analysis and explores social science perspectives on population problems. Topics covered include: a survey of past and current trends in the growth of the population of the world and of selected regions; analysis of the components of population change and their determinants; and the social and economic consequences of population change. You will find the readings on the bottom shelf of the bookcase outside room 313. Course requirements include a mid-term examination (40 percent of the final grade) and a final exam (40 percent). Class discussion and weekly assignments comprise the remaining 20 percent of the grade. All students are expected to participate in class discussions, and occasionally lead one of the discussions during the second half of the course.
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This course examines the changing nature of public service careers in the U.S. The last several decades have seen a steady evolution from a public service centered in government organizations to one residing in different organizational sections, including the private and nonprofit segments of the economy. In addition to documenting the extent of this change, the course will look at its causes, consequences, and the types of reform that might be necessary to aid the New Public Service in effectively accomplishing the public's business.
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