Politics & Public Policy :: Lang Center for Civic & Social Responsibility

Politics & Public Policy

Politics & Public Policy is a broad category that encapsulates everything from social justice advocacy to law to political campaigns and community organizing. It is the critical way in which communities can engage with their government and their fellow constituents. Through participating in politics and political discourse, as well as by helping shape and formulate public policy, individuals can help set and carry out agendas on a local, state, and national level. In this way, Politics & Public Policy describes a powerful way of facilitating change and progress across a variety of issue areas; this category can encompass engagement in the form of advocacy, awareness, education, internships, projects, employment, public service, and more.

Engaged Scholarship Opportunities

PEAC 053: Israeli-Palestinean Conflict: Typically offered in the Fall, this Peace and Conflict Studies course gives students an in-depth look into the origins and current state of the conflict between and within Israel and Palestine. The course’s field component gives approximately 35 students the opportunity to study abroad over Winter Break in Israel/Palestine, combining course material with real-world exposure and application.
POLS 031: This course explores the causes and impact of migration and the refugee crisis, as well as the impact of foreign and domestic policies. This course’s field component includes observations of immigration hearings as well as meetings with prominent NGOs in the Philadelphia area.
SPAN (Swarthmore Political Access Network): This student organization is devoted to expanding access to political education and voter engagement on campus. From campus forums to voter registration drives, they actively encourage democratic engagement.

Connect

Key Faculty and Staff

Ben Berger, Associate Professor of Political Science and Executive Director of the Lang Center
Keith Reeves ’88 , Professor of Political Science and Department Chair; Director of the Urban Inequality and Incarceration program
Sa’ed Atshan ‘06, Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies
Krista Thomason, Associate Professor of Philosophy; Coordinator for Peace and Conflict Studies Program

Student Groups

Sunrise Movement | Contact: Hannah Stern Pait '22
Swarthmore Democrats | Contact: Dlyan Clairmont '21
Swarthmore Conservative Society | Contact: Rebecca Sanders '21, Sam Marks '22
Young Democratic Socialists of Swarthmore | Contact: Robert Zigmund '21
Swarthmore Political Access Network | Contact: Ryan Arazi '21, Dylan Clairmont '21, Madeleine Ward '21.

Learn

Relevant Courses

Swarthmore Fall 2019/Spring 2020

ANTH 31C - Hispanics, Mestizos, Latinxs
EDUC 062 - Sociology of Education
EDUC 072 - Humanitarianism: Education & Conflict
EDUC 167 Education, Race, and the Law
ENVS 031 - Climate Disruption
ENVS 042 - Ecofeminism
MUSI 008B - Music, Race & Class
PEAC 015 - Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies
PEAC 038 - Civil Wars & Neoliberal Peace
PEAC 043 - Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change
PEAC 052 - Afghanistan: Where Central & South Asia Meet
PEAC 060 - Social Innovation for Peace
PEAC 077 - Special Topic: Gun Violence Prevention
PEAC 053 - Israeli-Palestinean Conflict
PHIL 021 - Social and Political Philosophy
POLS 003 - Introduction to Comparative Political Systems
POLS 004 - International Politics
POLS 012 - Introduction to Modern Political Thought
POLS 028 - The Urban Underclass and Public Policy
POLS 031 - Borders and Migration
POLS 038. Research Design and Inference in the Social Sciences
POLS 043 - Environmental Policy and Politics
POLS 045 - Disaster Politics and Policies
POLS 047: Ethics and Economics
POLS 048 The Politics of Population
POLS 057: Latin American Politics
POLS 059: Middle East Politics
POLS 061: American Foreign Policy
POLS 062 - The Politics and Practice of Humanitarianism
POLS 063 - African Politics
POLS 066: International Political Economy
POLS 070B - Politics of Punishment
POLS 100 - Ancient Political Theory: Plato to Hobbes
POLS 104: The State of American Democracy
POLS 105 - Constitutional Law in the American Polity
PSYC 040 - Political Psychology
SOCI 048L - Urban Crime and Punishment

TriCo

Bryn Mawr Fall 2019/Spring 2020 Classes

PHILB225001: Global Ethical Issues
POLSB222001: Environmental Issues - Movement, Controversy, Policy
POLSB249001: Politics of Economic Development
POLSB256: Global Politics of Climate Change
POLSB261: Sovereignty, Identity, and the Law
POLSB327001: Political Philosophy 1950 - Present
POLSB354001: Comparative Social Movements
Haverford Fall 2019/Spring 2020 Classes
PEACH101A: Intro to Peace, Justice, and Human Rights
PEACH319A: Human Rights in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania-In National and Global Context
POLSH161B001: The Politics of Globalization
POLSH171B001: Introduction to Political Theory: Ideologies and the Struggle to Control Authority
POLSH204B001: The Politics of the Creative Class in American Cities
POLSH208B001: Political Thought in the Global South: The Case of Latin America
POLSH217B001: Education Reform in America: Politics and Policy
POLSH261B001: Global Civil Society
POLSH278B001: The Earth: Ethics, Politics, and Economics
POLSH316B001: Race, Poverty, and the U.S. Welfare State

Lang Center
for Civic & Social Responsibility