Penn Washington Course shows students how Washington really works

Learning the inner workings of Washington, D.C., typically comes after a long career inside the Beltway, from how politicians manage to reach across the aisle and make successful policy decisions to understanding the role of think tanks and media.

But thanks to funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Paideia Program, a few dozen students at Penn and George Mason University had that experience condensed into a single spring course—How Washington Really Works. The innovative class, co-taught by Penn Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel and Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein, brought the students from Penn and George Mason every Friday to the Penn Biden Center at the base of Capitol Hill in Washington.

In a conference room with a full wall of floor-to-ceiling windows facing the U.S. Capitol building, the class looked at eight case studies to explore post-World War II policy debates, political dealing, institutional dynamics, and the personalities, motivations, and ambitions of the people involved in enacting legislation and operating the federal government. 

Every class involved high-profile Washington insiders as guests who could speak to their areas of expertise.

Read more at Penn Today