Who Really Runs America?: Subnational Governance and Policymaking

Catalog description

Most discussions of American politics revolve around the federal government, despite the fact that states and localities account for the vast majority of policymaking and elected officials in the US, overseeing such central aspects of our daily lives as education, public services, land use, infrastructure, and health care. This course examines these subnational governments (e.g., states, counties, municipalities, school districts, etc.), with a focus on how well they represent the interests and preferences of the populations they serve. We will cover topics including the forces shaping who participates in state and local government, the economics of administering these entities, and the variety of institutions structuring politics at this level along with their origins and effects. In addition, students will apply the behavioral, fiscal, and organizational perspectives discussed in class to complete a semester-long project in which they identify a problem in the Pittsburgh region or in their own community, investigate the existing obstacles to their issue being resolved, and propose a path forward.