GOVT 6998 - Inquiry into Politics and Policy

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Permission of instructor required. Offered in Washington, DC. ALS 4998/AMST 4998/CAPS 4998/GOVT 4998/NS 4998/PAM 4060

D. Silbey.

This course is about changing the world, or at least figuring out how. To do that, we have to think clearly about how to turn knowledge into action. We know many of the problems the world has and we understand what causes those problems. The challenge is to figure out how to take that knowledge and apply it; how to use our knowledge to create effective change. This is the central challenge for any decision-maker, public or private. They must make decisions about what to do and how to do it, whether in dealing with natural disasters, winning elections, and everything in between. They base those decisions on larger bodies of knowledge, whether political, economic, historical, ethical, or any of the other broad range of disciplines. The key question is how to apply that knowledge: what is the problem? What is the goal? What will change the current situation? What policies or actions could start that change? Changing the world requires both knowledge and action. This course is about a careful figuring out of both.