Public policy education in the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O’Hare
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Public Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Original Model ◽  
Professional Schools ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Selection Of

Training for policy analysis practice has evolved over forty years to a standardized core, including economics, statistics, management, politics/political science, and a practicum. The original model applied disciplinary methodology to the selection of better alternatives among possible policies for governments and nonprofit organizations. The most important mid-course correction in MPP history was the introduction of public management requirements in recognition that MPP alumni would (i) manage ‘policy shops’ and operating agencies as their careers advanced, and (ii) should advise on policy with awareness of implementability and manageability issues. Variations on this model include courses in law and public administration, concentrations in issue areas like health or environmental policy, and joint degrees with other professional schools. Current issues from which future evolution of the MPP enterprise is likely to flow include tensions between methodologies used by MPP faculty in research and inclusion of models like Bayesian inference and behavioral economics that may be more applicable in professional practice. Another source of variation is pedagogical: some courses offer the familiar ‘Theory T [for telling]’ model whereby content is presented didactically in lectures with discussion assigned to sections, while others move to ‘Theory C [for coaching]’ convention where content presentation is left to readings, and meetings are devoted to using the content to analyze policy questions.

American Discontent

1996 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Theodore Caplow
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of ◽  
Representative Selection ◽  
Selection Of

Never before in the history of the American republic has there been such a loud chorus of complaint. Here is a representative selection of recent (1993 to 1996) books about public policy in the United States

Time’s Up! Shorter Hours, Public Policy, and Time Flexibility as an Antidote to Youth Unemployment

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Eva Maich ◽  
Jamie K. McCallum ◽  
Ari Grant-Sasson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employment Relationships ◽  
Gig Economy ◽  
Hours Of Work ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Work Scheduling

This chapter explores the relationship between hours of work and unemployment. When it comes to time spent working in the United States at present, two problems immediately come to light. First, an asymmetrical distribution of working time persists, with some people overworked and others underemployed. Second, hours are increasingly unstable; precarious on-call work scheduling and gig economy–style employment relationships are the canaries in the coal mine of a labor market that produces fewer and fewer stable jobs. It is possible that some kind of shorter hours movement, especially one that places an emphasis on young workers, has the potential to address these problems. Some policies and processes are already in place to transition into a shorter hours economy right now even if those possibilities are mediated by an anti-worker political administration.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Valls
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Color Blind ◽  
American Society ◽  
Liberal Political Theory

The persistence of racial inequality in the United States raises deep and complex questions of racial justice. Some observers argue that public policy must be “color-blind,” while others argue that policies that take race into account should be defended on grounds of diversity or integration. This chapter begins to sketch an alternative to both of these, one that supports strong efforts to address racial inequality but that focuses on the conditions necessary for the liberty and equality of all. It argues that while race is a social construction, it remains deeply embedded in American society. A conception of racial justice is needed, one that is grounded on the premises provided by liberal political theory.

The Insidious Momentum of American Mass Incarceration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin E. Zimring
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Single Generation ◽  
American Life ◽  
Peak Rate ◽  
Or Practice

The phenomenal growth of penal confinement in the United States in the last quarter of the twentieth century is still a public policy mystery. Why did it happen when it happened? What explains the unprecedented magnitude of prison and jail expansion? Why are the current levels of penal confinement so very close to the all-time peak rate reached in 2007? What is the likely course of levels of penal confinement in the next generation of American life? Are there changes in government or policy that can avoid the prospect of mass incarceration as a chronic element of governance in the United States? This study is organized around four major concerns: What happened in the 33 years after 1973? Why did these extraordinary changes happen in that single generation? What is likely to happen to levels of penal confinement in the next three decades? What changes in law or practice might reduce this likely penal future?

The Implications of Political Trust for Supporting Public Transport

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
JAE YOUNG LIM ◽  
KUK-KYOUNG MOON
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Pooled Data ◽  
Policy Attitudes

Abstract Despite the importance of public transport for urban vitality, social equity, and mobility, the discussions surrounding these topics have become heated ideological battles between liberals and conservatives in the United States, as in other countries. Conservatives, in particular, have exhibited anti-transit attitudes that have worked against the development of public transport. Scholars note that political trust functions as a heuristic and its impact is felt more strongly among individuals who face ideological risks with respect to a given public policy. Based on several studies noting the relationships between political trust, ideology and policy attitudes, the study employs the pooled data of the 2010 and 2014 General Social Surveys. It finds that conservatives are negatively associated with supporting spending on public transport, but when contingent upon high levels of political trust, they become more supportive of it. The study discusses the potential of political trust as a mechanism to influence public policy discourses as well as certain methodological and substantive limitations.

Roe v. Wade Is Constitutionally Unprincipled and Logically Incoherent: A Brief in Support of Judicial Restraint

1989 ◽  
Vol 15 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 222-226
Author(s):  
Jules B. Gerard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial Activism ◽  
Federal Judiciary ◽  
Judicial Studies ◽  
Roe V Wade

The Center for Judicial Studies is the only educational and public policy organization in the United States that focuses exclusively on the problem of judicial activism. It seeks to confine the power of the federal judiciary to the bounds envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution. The Center's brief was signed by fifty-six members of Congress who were concerned that Roe v. Wade “has expanded federal judicial powers into areas that are within the rightful legislative domain of Congress and the states.”

Researching American Muslims: A Case Study of Surveillance and Racialized State Control

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Hajer Al-Faham
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Science Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Control ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
American Muslims ◽  
State Repression ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Selection Of

How does surveillance shape political science research in the United States? In comparative and international politics, there is a rich literature concerning the conduct of research amid conditions of conflict and state repression. As this literature locates “the field” in distant contexts “over there,” the United States continues to be saturated with various forms of state control. What this portends for American politics research has thus far been examined by a limited selection of scholars. Expanding on their insights, I situate “the field” in the United States and examine surveillance of American Muslims, an understudied case of racialized state control. Drawing on qualitative data from a case study of sixty-nine interviews with Arab and Black American Muslims, I argue that surveillance operated as a two-stage political mechanism that mapped onto research methodologically and substantively. In the first stage, surveillance reconfigured the researcher-researchee dynamic, hindered recruitment and access, and limited data-collection. In the second stage, surveillance colored the self-perceptions, political attitudes, and civic engagement of respondents, thereby indicating a political socialization unfolding among Muslims. The implications of this study suggest that researchers can mitigate against some, but not all, of the challenges presented by surveillance and concomitant forms of state control.

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