Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Provides an advanced evaluation of public policy, policy analysis, and policy change, focusing on problems in urban and regional planning and resource and environmental management.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course covers public policy and policy analysis, with a focus on problems in resource and environmental management. In addition to building an understanding of what public policy is and how policy analysis works, a fundamental goal of the course is to examine ways to make your work, research matter (i.e., to influence thinking and action). The course will examine a variety of themes, including:

• Theories and models of the policy process and how they can be used to study the development and fate of policies;
• The nature of policy problems and the role of problem definition in policy making;
• The relationship between science and policy;
• Phases or functions in the policy-making process and the participants and practices commonly associated with each;
• The instruments that are available for achieving policy aims;
• Methods and criteria for evaluating policy processes and outcomes;
• Conceptual frameworks for analyzing and organizing knowledge about socio-ecological systems;
• Knowledge mobilization and organizing for change.

The course will help you to improve your critical thinking skills, especially your ability to assess policies, critique the rationales offered in support of policies, and evaluate the means through which policies are developed and implemented. You will learn how to analyze and effectively intervene in policy processes, and how to integrate knowledge from other REM courses into policy analysis and design. You will also have the opportunity to use your new policy skills to analyze and recommend strategies to deal with a particular resource management problem.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

By the end of this semester students should be able to:

• Understand prominent theories of the policy process and how they can be used to study the development and implementation of policies.
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of policies, critique the rationales offered in support of policies, and understand the processes through which policies are designed, adopted and implemented.
• Analyze and effectively intervene in policy processes, including applying knowledge from other REM courses to the design and analysis of policies.
• Conduct and present (orally and in writing) a policy analysis of a resource and environmental management problem, in which you evaluate alternative strategies and make a recommendation to decision makers to address the problem.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

RECOMMENDED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: