Description:
This course will examine public policy at the state and federal level in five important areas: immigration, children in poverty, the elderly, health care, and education. We will pay close attention to the two most active periods of policy creation, the 1930s and the 11230s, but we will also look at policies developed in other eras, beginning with immigration restriction and mothers' pensions in the first quarter of the century and carrying throughout the century to conclude with changes in education policy, welfare reform, and the failed Clinton health care reform of the 1990s. Along with government officials, potential clients, activists, experts in and outside of academia and government, and a variety of interest groups have lobbied for or against policy in each of these areas. We will look at how these groups interacted to develop policy, how programs actually functioned (particularly what groups were included or excluded), and the relationship between public policy and the changing economic, political, and social landscape of American society across the century.
Academic Information:
Prerequisite: Graduate Degree Student.
Distribution I Area: None.
Distribution II Area: None.
Diversity Area: None.
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