Results for SIW

This course will explore how economic policy works (or does not) in a variety of areas related to the federal government. The course will explore both the analysis of policies as well as the political feasibility of enacting rules and implementing programs. Expected topics include federal budget, taxation, low-income support programs, labor and retirement, antitrust. We will have several guest speakers involved in the policy-making process. This course is being offered in Washington, DC to students in the SIW Program.

This seminar has three primary goals: 1) introduce today's major education policy issues; 2) investigate the ways education policy questions are addressed at the federal level, and by implication, the state and local levels; and 3) develop skills to develop and recommend appropriate policy options and solutions. You will become familiar with major education policy questions and over the course of the quarter, analyze these issues, consider policy options, and provide written and oral support for possible solutions.

This class is designed to offer students a chance to explore how criminal justice policies and laws come into being, are executed, and end up changing. Through a different topic focus each week, students will grasp the actors that affect criminal justice policy (across all branches of government) and will learn the true recourse of the law in the United States (it's more surprising than you might think). Through an end-of-term paper, students will argue for and against a specific policy of their choosing.

This course analyzes the major civil rights laws that Congress has enacted since the 1960s, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Fair Housing Act, the Public Accommodations ACt, the AGe Discrimination in Employment Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The course provides an in-depth study of the statutory language of each of these laws, examines how courts have interpreted the statutes, and explores the policy arguments in favor and against such laws. The course also reviews the history context surrounding the enactment of these statutes, including an examination of the civil rights movement as a political and social force. This course is offered in person in Washington, D.C. only to students who are participating in the Bing Stanford in Washington Program.

How are Brexit, Trump, Merkel and Macron reshaping the key relationship between the US and Europe? At a time of rising international threats from Russia, China, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as the challenges of populism, Euro-Skepticism, and Islamist terrorism, this course explores the Trans-Atlantic alliance that has been the central axis of US and European relations. By the end of the course, students will have engaged in substantive readings and class discussion in order to investigate these topics.

Politics is as much art as science. Washington Post columnist James Hohmann will pull back the curtain on how the nature of campaigns, along with media coverage of American politics, is changing. During this exclusive seminar, students will engage directly with a bipartisan mix of today's most skilled political practitioners about what they've learned from their wins and losses. Guest speakers will include current and former officials from presidential, gubernatorial, Senate and House campaigns who have held senior roles, such as campaign manager, chief strategist, general counsel, admaker, speechwriter, opposition researcher, communications director, digital director, pollster, and policy director. The head of a leading Super PAC and the executive director of a party committee will help explore the vital functions of outside groups. Students will play the roles of senior officials for a tabletop exercise and write an end-of-term case study analyzing a major strategic decision by a campaign. This course is offered to students in the Stanford in Washington program in Washington, DC.

Navigating divided government: As Republicans take control of the House in 2023, the Biden administration faces a raft of investigations and the president will turn his focus more toward executive actions than legislative achievements. He also needs to figure out how to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government open, navigating brinkmanship that will spook the markets, while continuing to provide funding for the Ukrainian resistance to a Russian invasion despite growing GOP resistance to doing so. He'll have to manage this with the narrowest of majorities in the Senate and amid questions over whether he'll run again in 2024. But Biden is not the first president to deal with divided government. In fact, every modern president has dealt with this. In an exclusive seminar with Washington Post columnist and editorial writer James Hohmann, students will meet with key players in current and former administrations and Congresses who navigated these stormy crosscurrents. A special focus will be on how power is wielded in Washington and how cross-partisan coalitions get built. This course is only offered to students attending the Stanford in Washington Program in Washington, D.C.

Presidential Transitions in an Era of Polarization and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges to Governing, Policy-Making and Ethical Decision-Making. This seminar will explore the intertwining of several key challenges inherit in all transitions, while analyzing the effects of our current polarized politics and the Covid-19 pandemic on policy making. Drawing upon an array of disciplines and approaches, our weekly meetings will include a series of discussions of readings from the social science literature; studies of health policy from medical ethicists and policy experts; articles from think tanks and government, and conversations with individuals from the worlds of policy, politics, and public health. Collectively, we will seek to understand connections, systemic constraints and to formulate potential policy and political responses. Students will engage in small group exercises on building a team in the Biden administration, along with developing health policy strategies that meet COVID-19 goals and ethical standards. In addition, students will have the option to pursue a capstone project, based upon research conducted with the guidance of one of the instructors, another faculty member or policy maker.

This course will examine the process through which U.S. foreign policy is made and how decisions and outcomes are reached. Through this examination, students will gain a deeper understanding of the role of various executive branch agencies and how the "inter-agency" process works. The course will also examine the role of other important actors such as the Congress and non-government entities such as the media, think tanks, and NGOs. Though the primary focus will be on process and decision-making, through the presentation of topical case studies the course will also be a survey of current-day foreign policy challenges such as the war in Ukraine, great power competition with China, and the South and Central Asia post-Afghanistan War. This course is offered only to students attending the Stanford in Washington Program in Washington, D.C.

This course provides an overview of the U.S. health care system and engages students in critically examining health policy issues. In addition to being one of the most important "goods" consumed, health care spending accounts for almost 20% of total spending in the United States. Continuing policy debates in Washington focus on how to finance federal health programs and provide access to quality health care. Using an economic lens, students will grapple with the complexity of these issues and learn to analyze arguments for or against policy changes. This course is offered in Washington, D.C. to students enrolled in the Stanford in Washington Program.

Whiplash! Since 2016, there have been three different Presidential Administrations, and a Congress that was unified (Republican), divided, unified (Democratic), and now divided again. There's been an explosion of major legislation (both partisan and bipartisan), Executive Orders, Court Challenges, Congressional Oversight, and regulatory changes. Given all of this, how much has the policymaking process really changed? In this class, students will learn the advocacy and strategy tools needed to participate effectively in Washington legislative and regulatory policymaking; as well as related issues such as Money in Politics, and Ethics. We will examine both the nuts-and-bolts and the complex intricacies of policy development at the federal level, considering current and rapidly evolving topics as examples, while also drawing on historical precedents. While living and working in Washington, together we'll learn the ways of Washington.

Many of today's societal problems - cybersecurity, climate change, Covid-19, food insecurity - require effective collaboration between government and entrepreneurial ventures to combine scale, technology, and innovation. In each class, students will engage in candid, interactive discussions with entrepreneurial, government, tech, and investment leaders to examine drivers/obstacles behind government mission-oriented innovation and the need, role, and manner for the entrepreneurial ecosystem to support it. Students and speakers will discuss the opportunities and challenges in building purposeful entrepreneurial enterprises. We will explore trust and effective partnering across government, entrepreneurial, and academic stakeholders to solve mission-oriented problems. This course is offered in person in Washington, D.C. only to students who are participating in the Bing Stanford in Washington Program.

Purposeful Advocacy provides a practitioner's insights regarding ongoing climate, conservation and resource debates, as well as other contemporary political events (e.g., Build Back Better, the Bipartisan Infrastructure deal implementation, the January 6 Commission, etc). This course does not teach how things are supposed to work - instead we provide a window into how things do (and don't) work in Washington. The lessons are drawn from personal experiences from the instructors two decades working in Washington as a Congressional Science Fellow, Congressional staffer, and lobbyist. We will review and analyze some historic advocacy campaigns and dissect others as they make the front page of the The Washington Post during the quarter. We evolve the syllabus to accommodate your interests and dynamic happenings in DC. nOur sessions typically include a review of ongoing activities in the House and Senate and executive branch agencies (including topics well beyond the title of the course). We also invest time discussing how your internship and other coursework fits in the bigger DC ecosystem.

This seminar will explore the intertwining of key challenges to governing, inherent in the American political system, along with the effects of our polarized politics and the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing upon an array of disciplines and approaches, our weekly meetings will include conversation with individuals from the worlds of policy, along with critical analysis of required readings. Collectively, we will seek to understand connections, systemic constraints and to formulate potential policy and political responses for a range of issues.

National Security Decision Making uses recent foreign policy crises to illustrate the challenges and dilemmas confronting U.S. national security practitioners. After an initial week discussing U.S. national security strategy, the remainder of the course is broken into three modules, each three weeks long. The modules cover the U.S. decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, the U.S. response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and efforts by the United States to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. In addition to completing required readings and actively engaging in course discussions, students are responsible for contributing to short group papers related to each of the modules. This course is offered in person in Washington, D.C. only to students who are participating in the Bing Stanford in Washington Program.

An overview of economic methods used to craft and inform environmental policy. The course will focus on examining the theoretical basis for the economic tools used in modern environmental policy making and examining practical examples of how those tools are applied. Areas of application include pollution regulation and climate change policy. The course will also review the latest research on the consequences of pollution and climate change for the economy. This course is offered in person in Washington, D.C. only to students who are participating in the Bing Stanford in Washington Program.

From Bleeding Kansas to Bloody Sunday, from the Colfax Massacre to Charlottesville, political violence has always been in America's DNA. Donald Trump didn't just incite an insurrection on January 6, 2021. During the years leading up to the attack on the Capitol, he ushered in a new era of militancy. In a seminar taught by Washington Post columnist James Hohmann, who contributed to the Jan. 6 coverage that earned a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, students will explore the historical arc from the Capitol rioters, some of whom paraded with Confederate flags, to the Southerners who pummeled abolitionists on the floor of the House and Senate during the decades before the Civil War. The members of the mob were descendants - spiritually, if not literally - of Know-Nothings and Klansmen. Students will compare American struggles with political violence to other western countries, closely read the report prepared by the Jan. 6 special committee and meet with key figures involved in efforts to foil political violence in 2024 and beyond. This course is offered to students in the Stanford in Washington program in Washington, D.C.

In this course, we will explore stress & resilience along with a number of strategies including mindfulness, gratitude, self-care, yoga, reflection, and connection. Students will learn ways to improve resilience and well-being by investing time, space and care into routines. Come ready to explore, reflect, and connect with peers. This course is offered in person in Washington, D.C. only to students who are participating in the Bing Stanford in Washington Program.

This course examines art at the intersection of business and the law from a number of different angles, focusing on how the issues raised by particular case studies, whether legal, ethical and/or financial, impact our understanding of how works of art circulate, are received, evaluated and acquire different meanings in given social contexts. Topics include the design, construction and contested signification of selected war memorials; the rights involved in the display and desecration of the American flag; censorship of sexually charged images; how the value of art is appraised; institutional critique and the art museum, among others.