Public Policy Process
CMC Government 116 Fall 2021
Tuesday & Thursday 11:10AM-12:25PM Roberts North 103
J.J. Pitney
Office: Kravis 232
Office Hours: Mon. Tue. Wed. Thu 1-2 pm and by appointment
GeneralThis course analyzes the politics of public policymaking. The key word is
politics: everything about public policy is political. People with different ideas and interests will fight over such questions as:
- What counts as a public issue?
- What are the "facts" of the issue?
- What are appropriate policy responses?
- How should government carry out the response?
- How do we know whether the policy has worked?
The perspective of political science thus differs from that of economics. The late James Q. Wilson once wrote that "whereas economics is based on the assumption that preferences are given, politics must take into account the efforts made to change preferences." This course will examine efforts to change preferences on the questions above.
The course has these additional goals:
- Enabling you to be a more effective citizen in observing and influencing policy;
- Giving you basic analytic tools that you could apply in jobs that require policy analysis;
- Offering a glimpse of materials that you would study in a graduate program in public policy.
Classes
GradesThe following will make up your course grade:
- Three four-page essays 20% each
- One six-page essay 25%
- Participation, reflections, & presentation 15%
The papers will develop your skills in writing, research, and political analysis. When grading, I do take the quality of writing into account, applying the standards of Strunk and White. If you object to this approach, do not take this course – or anything else that I teach.
In addition to the required readings (below), I may also give you handouts and web links covering current events and basic factual information.
Participation includes your activity in class and on the blog. I will call on students at random, and if you often miss sessions or fail to prepare, your grade will suffer. In addition, you may volunteer comments and questions. This experience will hone your ability to think on your feet. Every week, moreover, you will also email me brief (250 words max) reflections on the readings.
In the final two weeks, students will make brief presentations in which you offer policy recommendations. This exercise will provide you with experience in giving briefings. It will also provide you with guidance on your last paper.
BlogOur class blog is at
http://gov116.blogspot.com. I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material there. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog. (Please let me know if you do not get such an invitation.) I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:
- To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
- To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
- To post relevant news items or videos.
Remember that the blog is on the open Internet. Post nothing that would look bad to a potential employer. If you want more confidentiality, post to the forum on the class Sakai page.
- Treat fellow students with respect, even if you disagree with their opinion;
- Treat every opinion as open to examination, even if it comes from someone (including your professor) with more experience or expertise than you;
- Reasonable minds can differ on any number of perspectives, opinions, and conclusions;
- Your grade will not depend on whether your professor or peers agree with your opinions;
- Instead, your grade will depend on the evidence and reasoning that leads to your conclusions, along with the quality of your writing. (There is no such thing as a good badly-written paper.)
Other points:
Required Books- Eugene Bardach and Eric M. Patashnik, A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving, 6h ed. (Washington: CQ/Sage, 2019).
- Andrew Karch and Shanna Rose, Responsive States: Federalism and American Public Policy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019).
- Peter H. Schuck, Why Government Fails So Often (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014).,
- Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, 3d ed. (New York: Norton, 2012).
Schedule (Subject to change, with advance notice).In addition to the readings below, I may also supply you with various handouts and Internet links.
Aug 31, Sept 2: Introduction"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." --
Sir Ernest Benn- Stone, introduction, and ch. 1
Sept 7, 9: The Context of Policymaking I
"The traditional story of federalism recognizes that the national government can make policy in some areas, while the states reserve the right to regulate in other areas. However, as the pandemic has highlighted, things are not always that clear-cut. The constitutional boundaries between state and federal authority are increasingly difficult to ascertain." -
-Jennifer SelinSept 14, 16: The Context of Policymaking II
"The existing theory of market failure provides a useful corrective to the theory of perfectly functioning markets. In a similar sense, the theory of non-market failure is intended as a corrective for the
implicit theory of perfectly functioning governments." --
Charles WolfFOUR-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED BY SEPTEMBER 16, DUE OCTOBER 1.
READ STRUNK AND WHITE FIRST
Sept 21, 23: Goals and Policy Initiation
"In 1973, children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman launched the Children's Defense Fund with a survey. One US Census figure haunted her. Some 750,000 American children between the ages of seven and thirteen did not attend school ... `Handicapped kids were those seven hundred fifty thousand kids,' Edelman recalls finding to her surprise. `We'd never thought of handicapped kids. but they're out there everywhere.'" -- Joseph P. Shapiro, No Pity
Sept 28, 30: Estimation and Policy Definition
"A few people have asked me why we spent money
studying something we already knew. The reason we have to spend money on this is because in the absence of published data we can’t get needed public policy changes." -- Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation,
on a study of wandering.
Oct 5, 7: Policy Selection“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Berra
- Stone, ch. 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
FOUR-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED BY OCTOBER 6, DUE OCTOBER 27 (REVISED DATE).
Oct 12, 14: Implementation I
"[In] any large organization, the solution to any crisis was usually found not in the officially important people at the top but in some obscure employee far down the organization's chart ... `They called me and said, `Six layers down from the people in charge we found two contractors who actually understood what is broken.' The L6." -- Michael Lewis,
The Premonition- Stone, ch. 16
- Schuck, ch. 8, 9
OCT 19: FALL BREAK
Oct 21: Implementation II
"Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us." --P.J. O’Rourke
SIX-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED BY OCTOBER 21, DUE NOVEMBER 15 (REVISED DATE)
Oct 26, 28: Policy Evaluation and Reform
"The Government are very keen on amassing statistics – they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But what you must never forget is that every one of those numbers comes in the first instance from the village watchman, who just puts down what he damn pleases." --
Josiah StampNov 2, 4: The Fate of Policy I
"With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program. Those taxes aren’t a matter of economics, they’re straight politics.” --
FDR on Social Security- Karch and Rose, introduction and ch. 1-4
Nov 9, 11: The Fate of Policy II
"Today’s Anniversary of Medicare & Medicaid reminds us to reflect on the critical role these programs have played to protect the healthcare of millions of families. To safeguard our future, we must reject Socialist healthcare schemes." --
Rep. Elise Stefanik- Karch and Rose, ch. 5-8 and conclusion
FOUR-PAGE ESSAY ASSIGNED BY NOVEMBER 11, DUE DECEMBER 10
Nov 16, 18: Practical Policy Analysis I
Question: What was the desired effect?
Gen. Myers: The desired effect was to kill al-Qaeda.
Question: What sort of results are you aware of? What did your people on the ground see?
Myers: Dead al-Qaeda.
--
DOD press briefing, December 11, 2001Nov 23: Practical Policy Analysis II
"`We need better data,' [Dr. Birx] said her first time at a task force meeting, exerting the kind of leadership and organization that the group had so far lacked." -- Yasmeen Abutaleg & Damian Paletta, Nightmare Scenario
Nov 30, Dec 2: Oral Presentations
"If you’re going to be an academic who’s involved in the world of policy, you have to be involved in the world that exists. I was always a data guy, not a theorist. Theorists can maintain total purity. The data are always messy." --
Austan GoolsbeeDec 7, 9: Oral Presentations and Wrapup"Rely on planning but never trust plans." –
Dwight D. Eisenhower
