The corporate world, rapid developments in biotechnology, and the changing nature of warfare raise new and complicated moral concerns. Suffolk’s master’s program in Ethics and Public Policy trains leaders, executives, professionals, and scholars to identify and think through these questions. This degree, offered as a collaboration between the departments of philosophy, government, and public management, provides students with a practical set of tools to appreciate not only how policy is made but also what kinds of ethical choices are involved in its formation.
The program is designed to accommodate both full-time and part-time students. To successfully complete the program students must take 4 core courses, 5 electives, and successfully complete a faculty supervised internship (total 30 credits).
After completion of the required courses, EPP students would undertake a semester-long internship course to work with a governmental or non-governmental organization with which the EPP program has established a placement protocol. Interns develop a reading list with a faculty mentor in order to relate practical experience with theoretical reflection.
Under some circumstances (usually for a student intending to apply to PhD programs), the internship may be replaced by a master’s thesis, provided that a proposal submitted by the student and a faculty advisor is passed by an ad hoc faculty committee chaired by the program director. The thesis option involves the production of a substantial research paper and in most cases would lengthen the time in the program by at least one semester.
3.00
A survey of major works and themes of moral and political philosophy from ancient Greece to the late medieval period. Topics covered will include the nature of moral duties, the connection between happiness and morality, citizenship and virtue, the meaning of a good life, the attractions and limitations of moral relativism, the foundations of legitimate government, arguments for and against democracy, realism and idealism in statecraft, and the relationship between law and ethics. Authors may include the Pre-Socratic thinkers, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and Aquinas, among others. Normally offered every year in the fall.
Prerequisite: PHIL 701
3.00
A continuation of PHIL 701, covering the early modern era to the dawn of the 20th century. Authors may include Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Mill, Marx, and Nietzsche, among others. Prerequisite: PHIL 701. Normally offered every year in the spring.
3.00
This course examines the politics of making public policy. How is policy made? Who is involved? What kinds of information do policy-makers rely on to make their decisions? How do political opportunities shape potential for policy change, shifts or stasis? We will examine how policy decisions are made and how policy makers cope and adapt to a diverse set of constraints. We will also focus on what political strategies can be used to improve policy-making processes and outcomes. Students will be required to interview policy makers about a specific policy and write a comprehensive policy analysis. The course is intended to have both theoretical and practical value.
3.00
This course demonstrates how issues, problems, and questions surrounding public policies, program operations, and administrative systems can be structured as hypotheses and made amendable to resolution through the application of social science research techniques. The elements of research design such as surveys, true experiments, quasi-experiments, case studies and non-experimental studies are described, as well as sampling techniques and descriptive statistics. Ethical issues related to employment of these methods in the policy making process are also explored. The course content is presented as a way to reduce managerial uncertainty regarding alternative courses of action.
After fulfilling the required core curriculum students may, with the approval of the program director, chose their electives from the offerings of the Departments of Government, Philosophy and Public Management.
