HR223/DMJN223
Understanding Public Policy for Issue Advocacy
0.5 Credit

Hours per week:
  • Lecture/Discussion: 3

Much advocacy, including that concerning human rights and human diversity issues, is ultimately aimed at changing government policy. Thus, whether one hopes to advance change from within or from outside of government, it is important for social leaders and issue advocates to understand how policy is made. This course adopts two perspectives to help students understand this process. From a structuralist perspective, students will learn how public policy makers are constrained by the demands of economic and institutional structures in contemporary Canadian society. From a dynamic perspective, students will explore the fluid ways in which relevant actors like interest groups, citizens, and decision-makers can and do interact to produce public policy. Discussion will be illustrated by examples of public policy and policy innovation in Canada in such fields as international policy and human rights, telecommunications, media and cultural policy, health care, environmental policy, and crime and justice. (Cross-listed as DMJN223.)

Additional Course Information
Prerequisites
Registration status: senior student.
Exclusions
DMJN223, JN223, PO245.