Fall 2005 Course Description
Advanced Topics in Public Policy
| Section Title: |
Building and Sustaining Local Communities |
| Instructor(s): |
Lodis Rhodes |
| Course: |
P A 388K - Advanced Topics in Public Policy
(previously Seminar in Topics in Public Policy) |
| Unique Number: |
64030 |
| Day & Time: |
Wednesdays, 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM |
| Room: |
SRH 3.101 |
| Waitlist Information: | For LBJ Students: UT Waitlist Information
For Non LBJ Students: LBJ School Waitlist Instructions |
This course fulfills requirements for the following specialization(s):
Description: Poverty is an intractable social problem. The problem is persistent,
systematic patterns of inequality. The patterns are typically
described in the jargon and methods of economics -- aggregate measures
of wealth and income. These descriptions generally ignore issues of
power and control of assets. These issues are fundamental traits of
development, and they are the main focus in the course.
The course posits development as both a complex and systemic
phenomenon. How and why have we become so narrow-minded in how think
and talk about poverty and inequality? Can we improve our thinking
about development -- how to sustain it and assure it improves the life
chances of ordinary citizens living in local communities? The goal in
the course is to improve your skills in identifying and analyzing why
patterns of inequality, and to help you decide what you can do about
it. Development can be understood at the level of the individual,
organization, and nation-state. The course begins by looking at the
places and spaces we occupy and their relationship to the natural world
(social and cultural geography). It then adds the belief, political,
economic, and social-cultural systems as layers to integrate how we
think about policy, leadership, and management. Finally, it links local
concerns with poverty and inequality to the global dimensions of
similar social problems.
Main concepts in the course are sustainable development and collective
inquiry. Sustainable development is a multi-disciplinary concept;
collective inquiry is policy in action. Specifically, the course
explores freedom (individual agency), opportunity (structure of), and
'public ness' (cooperative deliberation and action). It treats these
ideas as necessary pre-conditions of sustainable development.
Sustainable development, in turn, includes both social and economic
development. Effective policies and programs account for both and
interactions between them. In practice, sustainable development creates
opportunities, removes barriers, and fosters democratic participation.
Students interested in the course should be well-grounded in the social
sciences. It will also help to have a specific interest in one of the
applied, policy-related fields of planning, public health, information
technologies, education, law, or community organizing. The course may
also appeal to students interested in the policy-related experiences of
NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in other countries.
Last Updated: August 12, 2005
Return to Fall 2005 Course Schedule
