Policy Choice as Value Conflict

Catalog description

People disagree about public policy not only because they disagree about empirical matters but also because they hold different understandings of familiar political concepts and they assign different weightings to competing political values. This course aims both to illustrate these general propositions and, more importantly, to introduce the tools and techniques with which one can construct and critique reasoned arguments about the political concepts and values that underpin policy choice. This course corresponds with PUBPOL 303 at Duke Kunshan University. Graduate students enrolled in this course are required to complete additional readings and assignments as determined by the instructor.