Law, History, and Public Policy

There was a time when those preparing for public service might well have studied history or law or literature. The same for management, public or private. And books like Neustadt and May's Thinking in Time or Gaddis's new book On Grand  Strategy are testimony to the value of that tradition, as similarly is biography such as Robert Caro's of Lyndon Johnson (vol. 3 is amazing). There is a tradition of public law and administrative law, although I am not sure which books are a popularized form thereof. 

Our students know little of actual policy or planning, say. How many read the New York Times, the Economist, or, gobble up broadcast Congressional activities? How many of us do so?  

You might well ask, what do we give up if we follow this direction, much as I am asking what do we lose in our current curricula?

While I am at it, I note that we do little on defense, military, veterans, fiscal, agricultural,... policy. I know that we cannot do everything. But no defense or fiscal (tax is only part of this)? How big should our armed services be and in what configuration?


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