Public Policy

The debate between Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault in 1971 represents a debate that has occurred in politics since ancient times over the importance of concepts like truth and justice. Thinkers like Foucault argue that truth and justice are merely masks to conceal the motives of power. Groups or individuals who claim to represent these ideas use them to hold sway over others, and to make their power over others seem normal or natural. Foucault goes on to argue that political movements should get rid of any notions of truth or justice, and simply be explicit about seeking to gain power. In Plato's Republic , Thrasymachus makes a similar argument, when he says "justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger." Before going on to look at Chomsky's response, it is interesting to look at some examples of what Foucault might mean when political figures use ideas like truth and justice. One example could be U.S. foreign policy, or the foreign policy of any state for ...

This class will focus more on how ideas influence public policy. It seems most of you enjoyed the Cornel West speech which I am glad to see, and I think it is valuable as sort of an introduction to politics and specifically public policy, but now we will dive deeper into how ideas influence public policy. The introduction to the book, Ideas and Politics in Social Science Research , edited  by Daniel Béland and Robert H. Cox  provide arguments why ideas are important in understanding how political institutions work, and their influence in social science (economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc.). They also feature chapters by several theorists who focus on ideas in public policy, like Jal Mehta, Vivien Schmidt, Mark Blyth, and others.  Ideas are important because they determine how we see and interpret the world. Ideas themselves do not come out of nowhere but emerge from the dominant culture of a society, or in some cases from alternati...

Last class, I asked everyone to watch the speech by Cornel West, and to write their first blog on this. The discussion by West provides an overview of how to understand public policy, or politics in general. Basically, there are at least five major themes that West brings up that are important: 1) a radical idea of freedom; 2) the importance of the arts and humanities; 3) democratic socialism is, as West says, "as American as apple pie"; 4) you cannot talk about racism, sexism, etc. without also talking about capitalism; 5) the United States is an empire in decline and the tensions between what he calls "a fragile experiment in democracy" with empire. I would also encourage everyone to read West's books if you have a chance, especially Race Matters . This speech is a good representation of West's thinking on many subjects.  1) West's idea of freedom is radically different from conservatives who define as freedom as not having to pay taxes or regulation...

Welcome to POL 211, Public Policy. My name is Barry Murdaco. I have posted the syllabus on Blackboard. The readings are available on Blackboard under Course Materials. I have included several interviews as well. The syllabus also includes a breakdown of the class schedule for the semester and grading. There will be a midterm and final exam posted on Blackboard as well. For now, I would mostly like the class to get familiar with using Blackboard. I will post additional material throughout the semester as well. A great place to begin would be to watch the speech by Cornel West. As far as studying public policy, we will mostly look at the process of how policy is actually made, and later on in the semester look at specific issues like healthcare and foreign policy. Policies are essentially the actions taken by the government in accordance with law. In theory, these policies are meant to be for the benefit of the public, or the people, but in reality that is not often the case. The p...