The main idea that we want to get across is implicit in the title: Systematic thinking - largely from the social sciences, but with the application of scientific methods and knowledge more generally - can make a significant difference in the way...
The class deals with the political, practical and substantive facets of policy making. We do this by analyzing the passage - and sometimes failure - of signature pieces of federal legislation that imposed massive change on the...
This course is designed to familiarize students with the Michigan political system and learn about current policy issues at play both statewide and in local...
Climate change often feels like a problem that our brains have been hardwired to ignore. Climate change is abstract and complex, making it hard for non-scientists (including policy-makers) to...
This course examines the nature, extent and causes of poverty and inequality in the US relying on a multidisciplinary literature from sociology, political science, economics, and...
This is a short introductory course module in facilitating complex and difficult dialogic moments of engagement in the social, professional and institutional spheres of the public...
Global financial markets provide both opportunities and risks for macroeconomic policymakers. In this course we will explore the role of financial markets in economic development, the causes and consequences of financial crises, whether and...
Global financial markets provide both opportunities and risks for macroeconomic policymakers. In this course we will explore the role of financial markets in economic development, the causes and consequences of financial crises, whether and...
What is a “global” environmental problem, and how do we “know” when we have one? How have societies conceived of the environment in the past, and how might we re-imagine our relationship to the environment today to ensure a sustainable...
What is a “global” environmental problem, and how do we “know” when we have one? How have societies conceived of the environment in the past, and how might we re-imagine our relationship to the environment today to ensure a sustainable...
What goes on in city government is in many ways more important to our lives than what happens in Washington. This course goes beyond the structure and theory of municipal government to look at how things really happen at the local...
Detroit was the nation's most important city in the Twentieth Century because of the the auto industry, the emergence of the blue collar middle class and development of the New Deal. Now it is the most negatively stereotyped city in the...
This is a course for students interested in social justice and equality, social justice movements, anti-democratic movements and the intersections of public leadership, public policy, and the rule of law in the context of the temporal evolution...
A one semester course to focus on major events, examining how the political and economic factors, the players and the context combined to set precedents for the United States in the...
This course focuses on the economics of energy and environmental regulations in the United States. It is designed to give students practical experience in making connections between intermediate microeconomic concepts and real-world...
This course is designed to familiarize you with the Michigan political system and learn about current policy issues at play both statewide and in local...
This course is a seminar on how our identities shape and are shaped by political institutions, with a particular emphasis placed on how this interplay affects the distribution of social, political and economic...
