Fall 2011 POEC 6323/PSCI and PA 6313 Public Policymaking & Institutions Wednesday 4:00-6:45 PM GR 3.

606

Dr. Elliott Office: GR 3.214 Phone: 972-883-2066 Email: eelliott@utdallas.edu Office hours: Wednesday 2-4 pm or by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course examines the literature in the area of political institutions and public policy. We will examine those institutions, both non governmental and governmental, that are responsible for the formulation of public policy. With regard to the former, political parties and interest groups, as well as public opinion and its influence upon parties and the formal structures of government will be explored. These formal structures include legislative, executive, bureaucratic and judicial institutions. Efforts will also be made to integrate the disparate findings. Institutional behavior and the policy process will also be examined from several important theoretical perspectives including pluralism, rational choice theory and institutionalism, as well as seeking to explain various approaches to decision-making. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Objectives of the course are to understand the role that the institutions of government play in the policy process, the linkages between these institutions (Congress, Executive, Judiciary, bureaucracy and federalism) and citizens (through discussions of role of public opinion, elections and interest groups), as well as a better understanding if the constitutional origins of the U.S. political institutions. COURSE REQUIREMENTS POEC 6323 (cross-listed with PSCI and PA 6313) is designed as partseminar and part-lecture. Consequently, for this course to be successful, it will be the responsibility of each student to have prepared for each class by doing all necessary readings.

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The course requirements are: 1. You have two options for your paper requirement; the expectations for both options are discussed in the Appendix. a. Write a literature review of a topic we have discussed in clas s or covered in your readings (approximately 15-18 pages). The topic should discuss representative elements of the literature. I expect to meet with each of you to discuss topics in further detail. Style expectations are discussed in the Appendix. Select a particular issue that has resulted in legislative activity at the federal or state level, and culminated in a statute. Using Andersons framework of analysis as described in Public Policymaking, examine the evolution of the issue from the problem identification and the definition stage to agenda setting, policy formulation and adoption. The idea is to develop an in-depth analysis of the policy process and to integrate important concepts, theories, etc. into your analysis. The paper should be 15-18 pages in length. You should restrict your topics to legislation adopted in the last 10 years or so.

b.

2.

Take home Mid-term Exam; we will discuss in more detail later in the semester. Depending upon the size of the class, each student will do one or more short 10-15 minute presentations on one or more articles assigned for the course at some point in the semester.

3.

GRADING CRITERIA 1. 2. 3. Essay/Policy Analysis Midterm Exam Individual Presentation and Class Participation 40% 40% 20% 100%

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TEXTS The following books will be used as texts for the course. They are listed alphabetically, and have been ordered by the bookstore and have been placed on reserve in the library. James E. Anderson. 2011. Public Policymaking: An Introduction (7 th edition). Boston: Wadsworth (Cengage Learning). Jenna Bednar. 2009. The Robust Federation. NY: Cambridge University Press David Mayhew. 1974. The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press. (2 nd Edition) Other required readings are indicated in the following course outline. All required texts may be purchased at the University of Texas at Dallas Campus Bookstore, Off Campus Books and Stanza Bookstore. All reading material will be available through e-learning or electronic databases. Go to http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies for additional information COURSE OUTLINE

I. THE POLICY PROCESS Review of Syllabus

Aug 24 Jeffrey W. Knopf. 2006. Doing a Literature Review. PS Online: 123-132 (packet)

Introduction and Context of the Policy Process

The Articles of Confederation. The U.S. Constitution and Federalist 10 and 51 (online)

Stages in the Policy Process

Aug 31Sept 7 James E. Anderson. Public Policymaking (entire) Jeffery Worsham. 2006. Up in Smoke: Mapping Subsystems in Tobacco Policy. Policy Studies Journal. 34:437-451 Jeffrey S. Peake. 2001. Presidential Agenda Setting in Foreign Policy. Political Research Quarterly. 54: 69-86

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Theories of Policymaking and Institutional Behavior

Sept 14

(A)

Pluralism and its Competitors

Ralph Miliband. 1995. Imperfect Competition in Stella Theodoulou and Matthew A Cahn, eds. Public Policy: The Essential Readings. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice Hall pp. 58-66. David B Truman. 1995. Group Politics and Representative Democracy in Theodolou and Cahn, pp. 66-72. C Wright Mills. 1995. The Power Elite. in Theodolou and Cahn, pp. 78-85.

(B)

Rational Choice

Bryan D Jones. 2002. Bounded Rationality and Public Policy: Herbert Simon and the Decisional Foundation of Collective Choice. Policy Sciences 35:269-284.

(C)

Institutionalism

Robert Scott. 1995. Institutions and Organizations. Thousand Oaks and London: Sage Publications, 1-62.

Incrementalism, Non-incrementalism and Punctuated Equilibrium

Sept 21 Charles E Lindblom. 1959. The 'Science' of Muddling Through. Public Administration Review. 19:79-88 Paul R Schulman. 1975. Non-incremental Policy-making. in American Political Science Review. 69:1354-1370 James L True, Bryan D Jones and Frank R Baumgartner. 1999. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory: Explaining Stability and Change in American Policymaking: In Paul A. Sabatier ed. Theories of the Policy Process. Boulder, Co: Westview Press pp.97-115

II. POLICY INSTITUTIONS Federalism

Sept 28 Jenna Bednar. The Robust Federation. (selected chapters)

Political Parties and Public Opinion

Oct 5-12 V.O. Key. 1955. A Theory of Critical Elections. Journal of Political Science 17:3-18 R Erikson, Wright and J McIver. 1989. Political Parties. Opinion and State Policy in the United States. American Political Science Review 83:729-750 David W Brady. 1978. Critical Elections, Congressional Parties and Clusters of Policy Changes. British Journal of Political Science 8:79-99

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Interest Groups
Oct 19 Richard Hall and Frank Wayman. 1990. Buying Time: Managed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees. American Political Science Review. 84:797-820 David Austen-Smith and John R Wright. 1994. Counteractive Lobbying. American Journal of Political Science. 38: 25-44

Legislative/Presidential Behavior
Oct 26 David Mayhew. 1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press. Rebekah Herrick, Michael Moore and John R Hibbing. 1994. Unfastening the Electoral Connection: The Behavior of U.S. Representatives when Reelection is No Longer a Factor. Journal of Politics 56:214-227 Lawrence Rothenberg and Mitchell Sanders. 2000. Severing the Electoral Connection: Shirking in the Contemporary Congress. American Journal of Political Science 44:310-319 Jon R Bond, Richard Fleisher and B Dan Wood. 2003. The Marginal and Time-Varying Effect of Public Approval on Presidential Success in Congress. Journal of Politics 65. 92-110 George C Edwards III. Andrew Barrett and Jeffery Peake. 1997. The Legislative Impact of Divided Government. American Journal of Political Science. 41: 545-563 Brandice Cones-Wrone. 2001. The Presidents Legislative Influence from Public Appeals . American Journal of Political Science 45:313-369

Nov 9

Nov 11

Midterm Exam Due Bureaucracies and the Administrative State

Nov 16

Shirley Ann Warshaw. 1995. White House Control of Domestic Policymaking: The Reagan Years. Public Administration Review. 55:247-253 B Dan Wood and Richard W Waterman. 1991. The Dynamics of Political Control of the Bureaucracy. American Political Science Review. 85:801-805 James Q Wilson. 1995. The Rise of the Bureaucratic State. In Theodoulou and Cahn, pp. 251-258

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Adjudicatory Institutions and Policymaking

Nov 23 David Adamany. The Supreme Court. In John B. Gates and Charles A. Johnson, eds. The American Courts: A Critical Assessment. Washington DC: CQ Press. 5-33. Donald R Songer. 1995. The Circuit Courts of Appeal. Gates and Johnson. 35-60. Karen O'Connor. 2005. Lobbying the Justices or Lobbying for Justice? The Role of Organized Interests in the Judicial Process. Paul S Harrison, Ronald Shaiko and Clyde Wilcox, eds. The Interest Group Connection. pp 319-340. Wayne V McIntosh and Cynthia l Cates. Cigarettes, Firearms and the New Litigation Wars: Smoking Guns Behind the Headlines. In The Interest Group Connection, pp. 341-364. Kevin T McGuire and James A Stimson. 2004. The Least Dangerous Branch Revisited: New Evidence in Supreme Court Representativeness to Public Preferences. The Journal of Politics, 66:1018-1035.

Nov 30 Dec 7

Course Wrap-up Final Paper due by 12 noon

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III. APPENDIX

Both option one [the literature review] and option two [the policy analysis of a selected issue] must meet with certain standards: a) b) c) Each must be 15-18 pages in length, discounting bibliography or citation page. Margins must be one inch and font size should be no larger than 12. Students are expected to draw upon the relevant literature. Regarding option one, this means a primary focus on the peer reviewed journal literature, although books and manuscripts may be used on a limited basis. With regards to option two, students should consider a somewhat broader range of sources. This can include peer reviewed journal articles, journals of opinion and other policy relevant literature. As a rule of thumb, 13-18 sources for each option are expected. Regarding citation mechanics, consult any APSA publication, including the APSR. References are embedded in the text, within parentheses (last name, date) or, as necessary (last name, date: page number). Direct quotes are always referenced. The complete reference should be included on a separate bibliography page. Again, consult the ASPR for details on what a full citation on the bibliography would look like. If you find it necessary to make comments or observations that are not a part of the body of the text [such comments may be used to provide details that, while relevant, are ancillary to the main thrust of the narrative] use endnotes rather than footnotes. Use a separate page, entitled Endnotes.

d)

e)

If you have questions concerning style, refer to the APSR, or see the instructor.

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