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Featured Multimedia Cases
Multimedia cases bring public policy dilemmas to life through video, images, charts, and graphs that are delivered seamlessly to students through a custom designed website. As with all of our cases, students are challenged to come up with real world solutions to real world policy problems.
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The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Responding to the Crisis in the Gulf of Mexico
By: Jennifer Weeks and Dough Ahlers (31 pages w/exhibits)
Topics: Environment, Energy, and Agriculture, Politics, Crisis Management
On April 20, 2010 an explosion rocked the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico 41 miles off the coast of Louisiana. BP was using the Deepwater Horizon to drill an “ultra-deep” offshore well. The explosion was the result of a "blowout" of the wellhead at the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, 5,000 feet beneath the drilling rig. BP was unable to cap the leaking well for nearly 3 months while oil spilled out of the wellhead at a rate of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.
This case is designed for use in classroom discussions that analyze and dissect the problem and the actions taken. The oil spill disaster and response is analyzed in terms of: (1) situational awareness (cognitive biases in identifying and understanding the magnitude and ramifications of disasters), (2) the concept of “responsible party” and liability in environmental law, (3) the novelty and size of disasters and the scalability of response efforts, (4) the response structure used to manage oil spills, (5) the role of government vs. the private sector “responsible party” in managing the cleanup of environmental accidents, (6) the tensions between local, state and federal governments in managing a crisis, (7) leadership during crisis, (8) disasters as political events, (9) the challenges of managing public perception and expectations during a crisis, (10) the role of public opinion in the shaping of responses to disasters, and (11) the role of the media in shaping the “narrative” of disasters.
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New Cases with Teaching Plans
Examining the Role of Child Welfare in Addressing the Needs of the CSEC Population in Kentucky
By: Julie Boatright Wilson and Pamela Lachman
Topics: Policy Analysis, Social Services and Youth & Families
Miami-Dade County and Sea Rise
By: Henry Lee
Topics: Environment, Energy, and Agriculture, Infrastructure, Politics
Lucinda Creighton and the Irish Abortion Bill Vote
By: Laura Winig and David King
Topics: Advocacy and Lobbying, Ethics, Health and Health Care, Leadership, Politics, Policy Analysis, Government
Hero or Traitor? Edward Snowden and the NSA Spying Program - Sequel
By: Laura Winig and Christopher Robichaud
Topics: Ethics, Federal Government
'Fixing Our Politics', One Vote at a Time:Public Policy Graduates Aim to Boost Turnout with TurboVote
By: Pamela Varley, Patricia Garcia-Rios, and John D. Donahue
Topics: Policy Analysis, Strategic Planning, Nonprofit and NGO, Politics, Technology, Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Government