This is a core course restricted to Ford School students only.
This is a core course restricted to Ford School students only.
We often think of policy analysis as a technical field in which we apply analytical tools to determine the most effective and efficient way to achieve policy goals. However, every time we enter the policy arena, we confront normative questions with no agreed-upon answers: What is the public good? How do we decide among competing goods? What should our policy goals be and how do we determine them? How do we make decisions when normative commitments and goals are themselves in conflict?
This course is based on the conviction that understanding the moral and ethical dimensions of public policy is necessary to effective policy analysis and a crucial foundation for any policy career. This course will familiarize you with a set of concepts and tools for reasoning, arguing, and writing about the normative issues that confront people working in politics and public policy. Our approach will combine theoretical interrogation of applied ethics with a case-based approach to theoretical applications. We will connect concepts from political philosophy and applied ethics—including utility, liberty, justice, and rights—to unpack and assess real-world challenges that face policy analysts and policymakers. Our examination will span topics from a variety of policy arenas. This section of 580 focuses primarily on U.S. domestic policy, with some attention to international policy.
Students who take this course will:
· Gain an understanding of key concepts in applied ethics, including the ethics of professional practice
· Develop and demonstrate the ability to think in a sophisticated, reflective, and reflexive manner about the values and goals of public policies in a variety of arenas
· Develop the ability to identify the values implicit in policies, articulate their own values, and engage the values of others
· Develop and demonstrate the ability to communicate concisely and persuasively, both orally and in writing, about the moral and ethical dimensions of politics and public policy
· Develop the ability to integrate ethical considerations into policy analysis and decision-making
