PSCI
503 Policy Analysis
Masters
of Public Administration Program / Spring 2013 /
Campus Version
LA
337 -- 4:10-6:30 (Tuesdays)
Professor: Jeffrey Greene
Telephone: 243-6181
/ Office: LA 356 /
Office Hours: 3- 4 p.m. Tue/Wed
E-mail: jeffrey.greene@umontana.edu
The Spring 2013 semester begins on Monday, January 28 and
ends Friday, May 16.
This
class is open to graduate students from any graduate program at the University
of Montana.
Undergraduates
must have the consent of the instructor to take this course.
TEXTS
Public Policy: An Evolutionary
Approach, 3/e, by Lester and Stewart (Students
can use the 2/e of this book)
Issues for Debate in American Public
Policy, 13/e, by The CQ Researcher (Supplemental
reader)
Public Policy: Theories, Models, and
Concepts, by McCool (Supplemental reader of
classic articles; used for article summaries)
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Public policy is one of the most
exciting areas in political science and public administration. PSCI 503
is designed to provide students with an overview of the public policy process
and an overview of the history and evolution of policy studies. The course also
provides an introduction to the fundamental theories, concepts, terms, and
methodologies associated with policy analysis, and an introduction to the basic
procedures used in conducting policy analysis.
The purpose of the course is to
acquaint students with the complexities of public policy and policy analysis.
The course is intended to provide students with an adequate background at a
level of understanding appropriate for a variety of public sector employment
settings. The course will blend theory and practice. Much of the course (the
last five or six weeks) will be used discussing and analyzing a series of
policy issues included in the Lester and Stewart text and the Issues for Debate in
American Public Policy text by
Congressional Quarterly.
Primary Objectives
Objective #1: To provide students with a general understanding of public
policy and policy analysis by reading and discussing classic and contemporary
literature. Students will be exposed to the basic concepts, terms, and
methodologies associated with policy studies. In this process, students will
gain a general understanding of the history and evolution of policy studies.
Students’ proficiency will be measured via class discussions. The written, comprehensive exam that
was used in the past, will not be used in this section
of PSCI 503.
Objective #2: To enhance students’ ability to write concise reports
pertaining to public policy. This objective will be accomplished by having
students write article critiques and an 8-12 page policy summary. Details of
these projects are explained later in the syllabus. Students’ proficiency will
be assessed via the written article critiques and the policy summary paper.
Objective #3: To provide students with the basic procedures used to
conduct policy analysis. Students’ proficiency in this area will be assessed by
material included on the comprehensive exam. Students will also develop
proficiency at "framing" policy issues. This idea is developed
in the National Issue Forums books; you can view these booklets at Public
Agenda, www.publicagenda.org
for a variety of policy issues.
Upon success completion of the
course, students should be able to:
1). Demonstrate knowledge of the
history and evolution of domestic public policy
2). Demonstrate an understanding of
the fundamental terms and concepts associated with public policy and policy
studies, including the various stages of the policy cycle
3). Demonstrate proficiency at
writing concise reports that deal with complex material
4). Be able
to construct a policy analysis design
5). Demonstrate a thorough
understanding of a specific policy by writing a policy summary.
6). Demonstrate the ability to
"frame" complex policy issues.
7). Demonstrate the ability to
present a complex public policy problem in a presentation format to a group.
It should be stressed that PSCI
503 contains many other secondary objectives. For example, oral
communication skills and critical thinking skills are not primary objectives in
PSc 503 but are deeply embodied in the
course. Additional and more specific learning objectives can be viewed at PSCI 503 Learning Objectives.
REQUIREMENTS: POLICY PAPER, ARTICLE
SUMMARIES, and ORAL PRESENTATION OF A PUBLIC POLICY ISSUE
Exam
There is not a written, formal exam
in PSCI 503.
Article Critique Guidelines
The McCool text contains a variety
of articles that will be assigned to students on the first day of class. Part
of designated classes will be used for brief oral summaries of the assigned
articles. The articles will be assigned to "individual students" and
a written summary should be prepared to hand out to the class. The critiques
constitute 20 percent of one’s final grade. All students are expected to
read all of the assigned articles for each class but only have to prepare a
written critique for their pre-assigned article.
Each student is responsible to have
thoroughly read the article, be prepared to present an overview of the article,
and be prepared to respond to questions from the instructor and the class. The
total time of the presentation should be no longer than 5 minutes. There are some
specific questions one should consider while reading the article and developing
a summary.
1. What is the major subject and
theme of the article?
2. What is the major question the
author addresses?
3. What techniques, tools of
analysis, or methods are employed by the author to answer the question?
4. What major points does the author
make?
5. What does the author conclude?
What suggestions are made?
6. What is the relevance of the
article to theory or practice? (What does it mean?)
Click here for a sample article critique.
Policy Presentations
Each student will present a 30
minute presentation on a public policy issue. Students will select the policy,
which must be approved to avoid replication by other students, and to ensure
the policy areas is not too broad. This presentation is similar to what is used
in PSCI 505 (the public budgeting class) but will consist of providing an
overview of a policy, describing how the policy has been framed (or various
ways it has been framed), a
overview of the potential remedies to resolve the problem -- the pros and cons
of the remedies. Students are encouraged to use PowerPoint or other
presentation software.
Students may use the same policy
that they plan to use for the take home exam. This policy does NOT have to be a
broad policy, such as welfare or economic policy. It should be a narrow policy
or a part of a much larger policy. For example, no one should select health
care policy in America, but a person might select either the new prescription
drug plan associated with Medicare or "providing prescription drugs for
senior citizens," and examine the various proposals.
The last few sessions of the class
will be used for presentations.
Grade Weights
Policy Paper............... 40% Due
May 7 (Tuesday)
Policy
Presentation......40% Due when scheduled during the final weeks of class
Article Critiques...........20% Due when presented in class
Attendance and Participation: Students are encouraged to attend and participate in class
discussions. Poor attendance and poor quality or lack of participating in class
discussions may affect one’s final grade. Students are expected to miss no more
than two classes during the semester.
COURSE
OUTLINE and READINGS
*
Note: we will move quickly through the first nine chapters of the Lester and
Stewart textbook
PART I THE BASICS OF PUBLIC POLICY
Session 1: Introduction / No readings assigned (January 29)
This
is the introductory class and will cover some introduction to the various
approaches and methods for conducting public policy.
Session
2 Introduction, Background, and Context: What is Public Policy? What is
Policy Analysis? (February 5)
Lester & Stewart, Chapters 1,2
McCool, Sections 1,2
______________
Assigned Articles (McCool)
"Interest Groups and the Nature
of the State" by Truman _____________
"Three Types of Pluralism"
by Kelso ______________
"The Golden Era of Interest
Group Pluralism" by Garson _____________
"The Comparative Study of
Political Elites" by Putnam _______________
"A Critique of Elitist Theory
of Democracy" by Walker ______________
"The Political System Under Stress" by Easton ________________
"Policy Science as Metaphysical
Madness" by Banfield
______________________
Session
3 Approaches and Models (February 12)
Lester & Stewart, Chapters 3,4
Assigned Articles (McCool)
"The Science of Muddling
Through" by Lindblom _______________
"Stages of the Policy
Process" by Ripley ___________________
"Four Systems of Policy,
Politics, and Choice" by Lowi ________________
Session
4 Analysis in the Policy Process: Agenda
Setting and Policy Formulation (February
19)
Lester & Stewart, Chapters 5,6
Assigned Articles (McCool)
"Developing Public Policy
Theory..." by Greenberg, Miller, Mohr, and Vladeck
_______________
"Typologies of Public
Policy..." by Steinberger ___________________
"Promoting Policy Theory"
by Spitzer _______________________
"Fiscal Behavior of the Modern
Democratic State by Mitchell ________________
Session 5 Implementation, Evaluation, and Policy Change (February 26)
Lesser and Stewart: Chapters 7,8,9
Assigned Articles (McCool)
"The Subsystems in
Perspective" by Freeman ________________
"Issue Networks and the
Executive Establishment" by Heclo
_________________
"Patterns of Influence among
Committees, Agencies, and Interest Groups" by Hamm ______________
"An Advocacy Coalition
Framework of Policy Change and the Role of Policy Leaning Therein" by
Sabatier __________________
Section 6 of McCool
"Introduction: The Age of Dead
Ideas?" by McCool ______________
"The Future: Theoretical
Choices" by McCool _______________
PART 2 ANALYZING POLICY CHOICES AND POLICY ISSUES
Analyzing
Public Policy Choices
This
section will examine a variety of policies, including Education Policy, Welfare
Policy, Crime Policy, and Environmental Policy from the Lester & Stewart
text. Also, additional policies are included from the CQ Reader. In addition to
what is assigned in the printed material, students will be required to read
summaries and overviews provided by Public Agenda. Adobe files are
available that provide the general summaries for Public Agenda's studies.
Public Agenda is located at http://www.publicagenda.org
Please
note that only three policy chapters are included in the 3/e of Lester and
Stewart. There are more policy chapters in the 2/e.
Session
6: Education Policy
(March 5)
Education Policy (Lester &
Stewart, Chapter 10) and Education (Chapters 9, 10, and 11 in the CQ Reader)
#9 "Digital Education"
____________________
#10 "Student Debt"
______________________
#11 “Youth Volunteerism”
_________________
Public Agenda's summary of education policy (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
Public
Agenda's summary of education policy is located at http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/education
Session 7 Welfare Policy (March 12)
Lester and Stewart, Chapter 11 and
Chapters 12, 13, and 14 in the CQ Reader
#12 “Occupy Movement”
_______________________
#13 “Child Poverty”
___________________________
#14 “Immigration Conflict”
______________________
Public Agenda's summary of welfare policy: (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
There is an article that appears in City Journal by James
Q. Wilson. It is an interesting article titled, "Why We Don't Marry."
It is related to welfare policy. ________________
Public
Agenda's summary of welfare policy http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/poverty-and-welfare
Session 8: Health Care Policy (March 19)
No readings in Lester & Stewart
(Chapters 15 and 16 in the CQ
Reader)
#15 "Preventing Disease"
____________________
#16 "Aging Problem”
_____________________
Public Agenda's summary of health care policy (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
"Ten years later, tobacco deal going
up in smoke" by
Sullivan ______________________
Public
Agenda's summary of health care policy is located at http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/health-care
Session
9: Crime Policy (March 26)
Lester & Stewart, Chapter 12
(2/e only), There is not a chapter on crime in the 3/e of Lester and
Stewart. (A copy of the 2/e of the book is on reserve at the Mansfield
Library)
Public Agenda's summary of crime policy (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
Public
Agenda's summary of crime policy is located at http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/crime
“Broken Windows,” by James Q.
Wilson and George L. Kelling http://www.theatlantic.com/ideastour/archive/windows.html
___________________
Session
10: Spring April 1 – 5, No Class
Session
11: Environmental Policy (April
9)
Lester & Stewart, Chapter 13 in
2/e; Chapter 12 in 3/e; and Environment, Chapters 3 and 4 in the CQ Reader
#3
"Fracking Controversy" ___________________
#4 "Water Crisis in the West”
__________________
Public Agenda's summary of environmental policy (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
Public
Agenda's summary of environmental policy is located at http://www.publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/environment
A
report from Public Agenda on energy and
the environment http://publicagenda.org/citizen/researchstudies/energy-environment
Session 12: Business and the Economy (April 16)
Business and the Economy in the CQ
Reader, Chapters 6, 7, and 8
#6 "Financial Misconduct"
_______________________
#7 "Reviving Manufacturing" ______________________
#8 "Attracting Jobs" ________________________
Assigned Article (McCool)
"American Business, Public
Policy, Case Studies, and Political Theory" by Lowi _____________
(McCool's book)
Public Agenda's summary of economic policy (Please note that some of the web links in this Adobe
document no long work due to changes on Public Agenda's website).
Public
Agenda's summary of economic policy is located at http://publicagenda.org/citizen/issueguides/economy
Session
13: Presentations (April 23) Due to the size of the
class, all five days will be needed for presentations
Session 14: Presentations (April 30)
Session 15: Presentations (May 7) Policy papers are due; these are the written
version of your presentation policies.
Session
16: Presentations (May 14) All work returned. Please
note that the class will likely meet in a different room if Exam Week is needed
for presentations.
Study Guide and PSCI 503 Learning Objectives (The learning objectives are considered to be part of
the study guide. Although there will not be a traditional exam is this section,
the learning objectives should be reviewed by all students.)
Policy papers guidelines can at Policy
paper. (This file is a Microsoft Word document). The document is
also available in Adobe Acrobat format. You may find the
instructions and format of the document useful in preparing your policy papers.
Policy papers are the written version of your policy issue presentation.
Click
the following links for samples of past policy papers. Sample 1 Sample 2 (These are Word documents)
Visit Governing.com, which is filled with news and policy matters pertaining to
state and local government at www.governing.com
For students interested in foreign
policy, visit Foreign Policy Online Magazine
Visit Public
Agenda, which is a rich source of data and
studies about public policy.
|
Articles about New Orleans and
Hurricane Katrina Many point to Hurricane Katrina,
New Orleans, and the Gulf Coast as a perfect example of weaknesses and
failures in federalism and intergovernmental relations. Public policy is at the
center of preventing disasters and rebuilding after disasters occur. |
PSCI 503 / Spring
2013 Syllabus for the campus class
Back to
Professor Greene's Home Page