Spring 2010 Course Description

Politics and Process

Description: Scope and Objective: Politics and Process covers how solutions to public problems are framed, debated, legitimated, and implemented in the U.S. political system. The scope of this section is the welfare state. The instructor plans to pay relatively more attention to children’s issues.

Students successfully completing this section can expect to (1) gain a broad overview of the programs and politics of the American welfare state; (2) develop in-depth knowledge of a specific social program, not necessarily restricted to children’s issues; and (3) be exposed to skills in legislative tracking and bill analysis, processes of rule-making and formal hearings, writing of policy memos and briefs, and public speaking.

Structure of Content: Class members are expected to do preparatory work over the winter break, guidelines for which will be provided in early November. Course content is organized into three parts:

• The first segment (5 sessions) covers intellectual perspectives on the welfare state, including framework for understanding policy development, historical sketch on U.S. approaches to social protection, and political landscapes on children’s issues.
• In the second segment (5 sessions), the instructor will lead discussions on the politics and process of specific children’s issues. For each issue, there will be equal attention on program operations and on the underlying political dynamics and idea evolution.
• The third segment (5 sessions) consists of teaching sessions by class members on specific programs. Before the fall semester ends, class members should explore with the instructor potential research topics, which will be finalized by the end of January.

Return to Spring 2010 Course Schedule