About Public Policy Process

The study of public policy is intended to offer every citizen an understanding of the various and vast roles played by the different branches of the U.S. federal government as well as by state, county, and local governments in various areas of contemporary American life. It is also a field that focuses on the priorities of American society as portrayed in the public policy choices that elected representatives make on the part of citizens and the size of different interest groups that advocate on behalf of particular policy goals. This course looks at the process of making public policy from beginning to end and in a wide array of particular policy areas that are of importance to contemporary American society. Moreover, because the process of public policymaking is best explored by examining particular instances of public debate over a wide array of specific policy areas, this course will adopt a case study approach to explore particular topics. Unit 1 will introduce this case study approach as well various actors involved in the making of American public policy and the process of setting the public policy agenda. Unit 2 explores the process of public policy formulation be examining a variety of case studies, including energy and fuel economy policy. Unit 3 examines the implementation of public policies once they have been agreed upon, the allocating of funding to pay for these projects through the budgetary process, and the evaluation of these projects to determine their effectiveness in achieving the goals they were established to advance. Unit 4 explores various areas of American economic policy, while Unit 5 looks at several topics of interest in the field of national security policy. Unit 6 examines various issues in contemporary American public health policy, while Unit 7 explores the public policy responses of the U.S. government to a number of environmental concerns. Unit 8 looks at several topics of interest within the broader field of education policy, while Unit 9 focuses on aspects of public policy that impact rural communities. Unit 10 concludes this course by exploring several areas of ongoing debate within American social policy, including immigration reform, civil rights legislation, and the criminal justice system.