PUBPL 483Seminar in National Security Policy

3 credits · Public Policy · Penn State

This course provides a comprehensive overview of the process of U.S. national security policy - the principles, practices, and participants in the development and implementation of security strategy and policy. It applies theories and models to the bureaucratic policy making structure of the Executive Branch, looks at the roles of other governmental participants, and evaluates the many factors that constrain decision making. It assesses the impact of non-governmental entities such as the media, interest groups, and public opinion, and considers the effect of changing domestic factors on the process. Finally, it prepares students to be knowledgeable and effective participants in the process and presents them with a practitioner's framework for policymaking. The main themes of this course are that the U.S. Constitution established a federal government of separate institutions sharing powers within an intentionally inefficient system of checks and balances that has evolved by virtue of a dynamic process of Constitutional Amendments, legislative statutes, judicial decisions, and executive actions; and, that national security decisions are best understood by considering the bureaucratic context in which they are made within the Executive Branch, and as a result of the interaction of other governmental and non-governmental participants.