90-714 Policy and Politics: American Political Institutions
12 units, Carnegie Mellon University
The course explores the nature of certain US domestic policies and politics that have long been understood as fundamental to American political institutions. In order to grasp how these domestic policies have become not only so fundamental but increasingly contested, the course will highlight the history and evolution of a selection of these policies by centering them as case studies throughout the semester. Doing so will allow students to assess, re-assess, and question the ways these policies have driven political division and compromise, and whether they serve the rights of both citizens and non-citizens. Students will grapple with the extent to which we see these policies as democratic, and predict their future based on their foundations, history, and their intervention in politics in the current moment? By focusing on these thematic case studies in readings, class discussions, and written assignments, students will gain not only a deeper understanding of how critical governmental and societal institutions shape the way we understand citizenship, borders, immigration, and voting rights, but also be able to position themselves as critical interrogators and discussants around the nature of the role of domestic policies that both undermine and protect rights and notions of justice for both individuals and groups in the US
Prerequisites: none listed
Offered: Fall 2026, Spring 2026
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