Theory and Practice in Public Policy

PUBP 700.01

Required Text | Recommended Web Sites | Class Schedule, Topics and Assignments

Instructor: Catherine Rudder

Time of Class: Mondays, 7:20-10:00 p.m.

Location: Arlington, Room 336

Office Hours: 6-7 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, room #202 (If my door is open, please feel free to drop in anytime. Also, I’m easily available by email (rudder@gmu.edu) or phone (703-993-4996). In case of emergency, you may call me at home before 10 p.m. at 202-966-0203.)

Theory and Practice in Public Policy, the gateway course for the Master’s Program in Public Policy, introduces you to tools and concepts that will help you navigate in the world of public policy. We explore positive, normative, deductive, and inductive theories of policymaking and assess their strengths, weaknesses and applicability. You will be introduced to several perspectives on the practice of policy analysis and be given an opportunity to engage in a analytical and strategic project.

The objective of this course is to help you become a more sophisticated policy professional with an ability to operate effectively in a political environment. You will be presented with a variety of ways of looking at political phenomena, conceiving of relationships, and understanding outcomes, and you will hone your skills in identifying assumptions, seeing multiple sides of issues, casting alternative frames to problems, understanding underlying interests, identifying stakeholders, and devising strategies for action. The course aims to heighten your sensitivity to cultural, economic and political context and your appreciation of theoretical rigor, disinterested analysis, and empirical evidence for assertions. While many of the applications will be in the U.S. context, the theories apply more broadly to policymaking in market-based democracies. In addition, a strong international component is built into the course.

You will be asked to work individually and in teams in order to demonstrate your facility with the theories and their appropriate use, as well as to hone your research, public presentation and writing skills. Grades will be apportioned in the following manner:

* Two short papers 40% of grade (20% each)

* Take-home midterm 20%

* Take-home final exam 20%

* Class presentations/discussions/attendance 20%

Details about these assignments will be covered in class.

Required Texts:

Mancur Olson. Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups

(Harvard University Press, Paperback Revised edition, 1971 (orig. pub. 1965)).

Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists without Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Cornell University Press, 1998). (paper)

Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Harvard University Press, 1970). (paper)

Charles E. Lindblom, The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What to Make of It (Yale University Press, 2001).

Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making, Revised Edition

(W. W. Norton, 2001). (paper)

Eugene Bardach, A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving (Chatham House Publishers, 2000.) (paper)

“Governance Options for CapWIN: The Capital Region Wireless Integrated Network” (will be distributed to you online prior to class)

The New York Times (daily: all U.S., international and business news)

Highly Recommended Reading:

The Economist (weekly)

David L. Weimer and Aidan R. Vining, Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice, 3^rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999).

Giandomenico Majone, Evidence, Argument, & Persuasion in the Policy Process, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989).

John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984).

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), esp. pp. 21-52.

Steven J. Brams, Negotiation Games: Applying Game Theory to Bargaining and Arbitration (NY: Routledge, 1990).

Roger Fisher and William Ury, with Bruce Patton, editor, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In, (NY: Penguin Books, 1991).

Jon Elster, Nuts and Bolts for the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).

Irving Goffman, Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959).

Recommended Websites:

http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/es_hp.htm

http://www.heritage.org

http://www.aei.org/research/research.htm

http://www.ctj.org

http://www.concordcoalition.org

http://www.ombwatch.org/execreport

http://epinet.org

http://www.urbaninstitute.org

http://www.nas.edu

Class Schedule, Topics, and Assignments

(Pedagogical practice may dictate certain alterations in the schedule of topics below.)

Introduction

August 26: Introduction to the Course

Introduction to the course and to policy analysis

Discussion of required texts and recommended reading

Review of objectives and requirements

Creation of teams

Plagiarism

Guest presentation: Dr. Wing Chan and Dr. Arnauld Nicogossian on global public health policy

September 2: Labor Day. No class today.

September 9: The Practice of Public Policy

Assignment: A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis

Topics:

What is policy analysis?

Ethical obligations of the policy analyst

Bardach’s Eightfold Path

Challenges facing the analyst

Gathering data for policy research

Best practices research

Discussion of group projects

Guest presentation: Using the GMU library; discussion of library resources, electronic sources, and citation of sources

Recommended reading:

Beryl A. Radin, Beyond Machiavelli: Policy Analysis Comes of Age, (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2000).

David L. Weimer and Aidan R. Vining, Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice, 3^rd ed. (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999).

Edith Stokey and Richard Zeckhauser, A Primer for Policy Analysis (New York: Norton, 1978).

Duncan MacRae Jr. and Dale Whittington, Expert Advice for Policy Choice: Analysis and Discourse (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1997).

Understanding Groups

September 16: Individuals in Concert

**Assignment: The Logic of Collective Action, pp. 1-97. “Governance Options for CapWIN: The Capital Region Wireless Integrated Network” (will be distributed to you online prior to class)**

Topics:

What is theory? Why we need theory and why theory is inevitable

Consideration of types of theory, elements of theory, testing and applying theory

Levels and units of analysis

What constitutes an explanation?

Identifying assumptions

Application of rational actor theory to groups and organizations (deductive theory)

Concepts of collective or public goods, latent groups, incentives, and compulsion

Differences between large and small groups

Why individuals join groups, act in concert, provide for collective goods

Application to states, labor unions, membership associations

Consideration of implications for policy-making, NGOs, and public policy

Recommended reading:

Steven E. Finkel and Edward N. Muller, “Rational Choice and the Dynamics of Collective Political Action: Evaluating Alternative Models with Panel Data,”

The American Political Science Review, Vol. 92, No. 1. (Mar., 1998), pp. 37-49 (Available via JSTOR).

Amartya K. Sen, “Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 6: 4 (Summer 1977), 317-344 (available via JSTOR).

September 23: Groups in Concert: Networks

Assignment: Activists beyond Borders, Preface, Ch. 1 and 6; choose one of the following: Ch. 2, 3, 4, or 5.

Topics:

Network theory

Reconceptualizing international politics and the concept of sovereignty

Consideration of boomerang effects, international campaigns, issue framing, culture, political context, leverage, and elements of social movement theory

Creating social change: an international strategy of creating transnational advocacy networks (inductive and grounded theory)

Relationships among domestic actors, states, NGOs, international organizations, and foundations

Circumstances making creation of advocacy networks more likely

Role of leadership, political entrepreneurs, and past experience in networks

Network tactics

Impact of advocacy networks

Recommended reading:

Robert Putnam, “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games,” International Organization 42 (Summer 1988): 427-60. (Available via JSTOR)

Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.) (New York: Free Press, 1995).

1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

Politics and Economics

October 7: Economics: Understanding the Market Context

Assignment: The Market System

Topics:

How markets work

Efficiency, inefficiencies, quid pro quo, freedom

Effects of the market system on personality and culture

The reach of the market system

Is a market system necessary for democracy?

Does a market system inflict harm on democracy?

Alternatives to markets

Applicability of those ideas in public policy-making

TUESDAY!!! October 15: Structuring Choice

Assignment: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, pp. 1-61, 76-105, and 120-126.

Topics:

Consideration of the concepts of exit and voice

Theory of loyalty

Assumptions underlying the theory

Role of public goods

Inside vs. outside strategies: fight from within or without? What are the trade-offs?

Application to education vouchers and privatization of postal services

Recommended reading:

Other works by Hirschman, including Shifting Involvements: Private Interest and Public Action (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1982).

October 21: Game Theory and Strategic Bargaining

Assignment: Midterm exam due. Prisoner's Dilemma Game--play online

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/pd.html

Topics:

Discussion of bargaining strategy

Game theory

Coming to agreement

Recommended reading:

Thomas C. Schelling, “A Theory of Bargaining,” The Strategy of Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960) pp. 21-52.

Steven J. Brams, Negotiation Games: Applying Game Theory to Bargaining and Arbitration, (NY: Routledge, 1990).

Roger Fisher and William Ury, with Bruce Patton, editor, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In, (NY: Penguin Books, 1991).

Politics

October 28: The Political Project

Assignment: Policy Paradox, Introduction and Parts I and II.

Topics:

The role of the public in policy making: audience, intensity

Which comes first, the problem or the solution?

Rationality project vs. the political project

Political vs. market models: what distinguishes the polis from the market?

Conflicting claims of normative goals: equity, efficiency, security and liberty

Essence of policy making in political communities: struggle over ideas

Multiple understandings of a single concept and political strategy to shape understandings

Finding hidden arguments

Alternatives to rational actor assumptions

Highly recommended reading:

James Madison, Federalist #10 (available on the Internet)

U.S. Constitution (Internet)

Recommended reading:

E.E. Schattschneider, The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960).

John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies (Boston: Little, Brown, 1984).

Robert Dahl, A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963).

November 4: The Political Project (cont’d)

Assignment: Policy Paradox, Part III.

Topics:

Problem definition: strategic representation of situations

Narrative stories, metaphors, and ambiguity

Manipulation of numbers

Assigning responsibility for problems: causal interpretation

Mobilization of interests

Why the logic of collective action does not pertain in the polis

Group strategies to define issues

Who has the power to decide?

Controlling the alternatives

Decision models

Cultural frameworks

Recommended reading:

Shanto Iyengar, Is Anyone Responsible? How Television Frames Political Issues (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

Analysis of Social Security Commission’s recommendations:

http://www.cbpp.org/6-18-02socsec-pr.htm

November 11: The Political Project (cont’d)

Assignment: Policy Paradox, Part IV and Conclusion.

Topics:

Policy instruments that are central in democracies: inducing people to act in prescribed ways

Inducements, rules, facts, rights, and powers

Why “reasoned analysis is necessarily political”

What is political reason?

November 18: The Political Project and the Policy Analyst

Assignment: Second short paper due.

Topics:

How the policy analyst can incorporate Stone’s ideas

Assessing political feasibility

Reviewing Bardach’s eightfold path

Applications

November 25: Causal Mechanisms: Human Action

Topics:

Causal explanations

Foresight and myopia, discounting

Selfishness and altruism

Role of emotions

Reinforcement

Natural and social selection

Global maximum and the local maximum trap

Unintended consequences

Norms

Social change

Equilibrium

Organizations: What difference do they make?