Law, Politics, and Policy - 4 credits

How is public policy shaped? Where do ideas for public policy come from and how are they crafted? What are the fundamental legal and political arrangements that structure American society? How are laws made, enforced, and reviewed? How did these arrangements come into being and how do they provide for continuity and change? How do various levels of government—federal, state, and local—work together (or produce stress) in trying to provide for and maintain basic social services? Students will examine how political, financial, and ethical concerns are balanced in developing policies that support basic social services.