This course is about public policy. While there are many definitions of public policy, we prefer Michael Mintrom’s notion of public policies as the choices that governments make on behalf of citizens living in their jurisdiction. These choices are, in turn, embodied in the rules, plans, principles and strategies that guide government actors. In principle, governments adopt public policies to promote, control, and help structure our environment in ways that lead to overall improvements in the quality of the lives of citizens. Over the term, we examine public policy at various stages of development including how it comes about, how it is designed, and how it has been implemented and evaluated for impact or performance. The aim is to provide a broad understanding of the academic debates and current research on public policy design, analysis, and implementation. In addition, you will gain several analytical tools that you can use to analyse public policies from a range of perspectives.