Public Affairs 3210: Civics, the Making of Law, and the Development and Implementation of Public Policy

Through the examination of the public law and public policy systems, students will learn about the knowledge, skills, and behavioral habits that constitute citizenship in connection with the institutional arrangements for law- and policymaking, and how to work for justice in a diverse world.

By completing this course, you will:

• Develop a sophisticated knowledge of the important institutions – legislative, administrative, judicial, and otherwise – that create and shape American public law and policy, especially at both the state and federal levels, but – where fitting – also at the local level;
• Understand the role of law and policy in social organization and coordination and in the distribution of rights and responsibilities of citizens and of public organizations;
• Appreciate the various ways in which American public law and policy has the power to both advance and hinder the achievement of equity and justice in a diverse world;
• Refine your skills, both as a professional and as a citizen, to participate in the development and implementation of public law and policy.
• The course will help you meet these goals through a combination of readings, exercises, class discussions, examinations, and other activities.

This course fulfills the following four goals of the Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World theme:

• Goal 1: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World: “Successful students will analyze an important topic or idea at a more advanced and in-depth level than in the Foundations component.”
• Goal 2: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World: “Successful students will integrate approaches to the theme by making connections to out-of-classroom experiences with academic knowledge or across disciplines and/or to work they have done in previous classes and that they anticipate doing in future.”
• Goal 3: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World: “Successful students will explore and analyze a range of perspectives on local, national, or global citizenship, and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that constitute citizenship.”
• Goal 4: Citizenship for a Just and Diverse World: “Successful students will examine notions of justice amidst difference and analyze and critique how these interact with historically and socially constructed ideas of citizenship and membership within societies, both within the US and/or around the world.”

Expected Learning Outcomes

• 1.1. Engage in critical and logical thinking about the topic or idea of citizenship for a just and diverse world.
• 1.2. Engage in advanced, in-depth, scholarly exploration of the topic or idea of citizenship for a just and diverse world.
• 2.1. Identify, describe, and synthesize approaches or experiences as they apply to citizenship for a just and diverse world.
• 2.2. Demonstrate a developing sense of self as a learner through reflection, self-assessment, and creative work, building on prior experiences to respond to new and challenging contexts.
• 3.1. Describe and analyze a range of perspectives on what constitutes citizenship and how it differs across political, cultural, national, global, and/or historical communities.
• 3.2. Identify, reflect on, and apply the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for intercultural competence as a global citizen.
• 4.1. Examine, critique, and evaluate various expressions and implications of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and explore a variety of lived experiences.
• 4.2. Analyze and critique the intersection of concepts of justice, difference, citizenship, and how these interact with cultural traditions, structures of power, and/or advocacy for social change.

This course may require materials. Consult your instructor's syllabus for details.

• Attendance & Participation: 10%
• Ten weekly reflections, each of one to two pages, submitted in weeks two through eleven: 20%
• First three-page paper, due at the end of week six (focus on practical applications): Finding a career in public law/public policy: 20%
• Mid-term exam (focus on concepts and theories from first half of the semester): 15%
• Second three-page paper, due at the end of week twelve (focus on practical applications): Interplay of lawmaking and policymaking in example of student’s choice: 20%
• Final exam (focus on concepts and theories from second half of the semester):15%

1. We expect you to extend yourself and reach beyond that which you can achieve without effort.
2. The weekly reflections are an opportunity for you to synthesize the ideas that have been most meaningful or stimulating to you from each week’s readings and discussions. We want you not to summarize the key ideas, but to capture on the page, for your benefit as well as ours, what it was about an idea (or set of ideas) that has affected your perspective, values, or understandings. We will not grade your reflections on the basis of the mechanics of your writing, but on whether or not you show meaningful engagement with the material. (Writing mechanics will matter on the two papers, however, as described more in point 5 below.)
3. When preparing for the exams and working on your papers, of course you should read the prescribed literature and digest the information. But it will not do merely to ask what you need to cover in the paper. If you merely follow the rubric, you will get a B+. So go beyond that: give yourself the chance to understand the material deeply, and to recognize why it is important for you to know what lawmaking and policymaking are about. (Use the PowerPoints of each week, as posted in Carmen, as if they are a closet of knowledge hangers, or a cabinet with various drawers, or a house with various rooms. The PowerPoints provide the skeleton, and you flesh that out with the knowledge that is meaningful to you.)
4. When we read your papers, what makes us “hop” is sensing that you are engaged, that you are creative, that you are intellectually intrigued, and that you have original thoughts. That, together with following the rubric, will get you an A or A-.
5. In our role as the instructors, we will be available to read a draft of your papers, but we will comment only upon its substantive content and not on the quality of the writing. However, the grading of your completed papers will consider syntax, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Typos, inconsistencies, punctuation and apostrophe errors, grammar errors, and misspellings are not acceptable.
6. A few of our writing pet peeves: When referring to people, use “who” or “whom”; when referring to institutions or things, use “that”; write numbers up to twelve as a word, but write numbers 13 and above as a numeral; do not mix present and past tense in one section; do not mix singular and plural in one sentence; check statements that you hear in the news for their correctness, and provide sources that confirm or question such statements

Because democratic citizenship is a profoundly participatory experience, class sessions will be structured to generate substantial student discussion. The instructors will use the readings and their own knowledge of the subject matter to focus these discussions. Similarly, thoughtful and reflective discussions among all participants, again moderated and guided by the instructors, will help to deepen students’ understanding of matters of justice in a diverse world. These discussions should be lively, engaging, respectful, and informative.