Policy Choice as Value Conflict

Catalog description

Public policy should be informed by evidence and facts, but it cannot be determined by them. 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 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. Throughout, special attention will go to questions of justice, freedom, democracy, and rights; how these concepts are variously understood; and the trade-offs and dilemmas involved in trying to realize the values associated with them. Readings will be drawn from political theory and philosophy but also interdisciplinary policy studies, with contributions from economics, political science, and beyond. 001144