Courses

POLI 160AA Introduction to Policy Analysis (Instructor-of-Record - Spring 2023, Winter 2024 at UC San Diego)

This course is designed to give students an understanding of public policy and how one might choose between various policies.  The first part of the course provides basic knowledge of rationality, collective action, market dynamics, and problems with the market.  The second part of the course provides a brief overview of each stage of the policy-making process. The third part of the course discusses various aspects of public policy. The last part of the course focuses on current policy questions and students will vote for the topics they are most interested in learning about and discussing.

PLS 2070 Introduction to Public Law (Instructor-of-Record - Spring 2024 at Cal Poly Pomona)

This course introduces you to fundamental concepts, institutions, and actors in public law. Over the course of the semester, you will be exposed to competing philosophies of what law can and should do, as well as discussions of how law advances or constrains the achievement of various political, economic, and social goals. Likewise, the course will consider American courts as robust policy-making institutions that accomplish policy change where other branches of government fall short by situating the critical actors and component structures of the U.S. legal system within the study of American politics more broadly. During the first part of the course, we will examine the foundations and nature of law and the legal system. Then, we will consider the organizational characteristics of the American legal system, including the importance of the common law tradition, the federal structure of American government, and the function of U.S. courts as venues for orderly dispute resolution. Third, we will discuss several actors of the legal system, along with determinants and effects of their behavior. We will also survey a range of particular areas in American law, including the interaction of law with race, gender, and other characteristics so as to assess the impact of the law and courts on society.