This course will provide an overview of the U.S. political system as it is related to the formulation of public policy. The Introduction to public policy provides a basic vocabulary of concepts and approaches to understand processes of public policy making. Its main focus is the United States, but it will also address issues of (international) comparison. The course provides students with an intellectual framework for developing their own answers to questions about government intervention in our lives, public policies and alternatives, the making of policy, the role of systemic analysis of the policy making context in policy making, and the most effective roles for non-governmental organizations, markets and the state in the policymaking process.