CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO
GRADUATE PROGRAM IN PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION

PPA 200:
Introduction to Public Policy and Administration

Fall, 2000

Professor Ted Lascher
3035 Tahoe (Business)
(916)278-4864 (office)
(530)758-5687 (home-no calls after 8:00 p.m.)
tedl@csus.edu
liznted@juno.com

Class meeting time and place:
Tuesday, 6-8:50 p.m., Alpine 227

Class office hours: Tuesday 5-6 p.m. and by appointment

 

OVERVIEW

This course aims to provide background, concepts, tools, and the appropriate orientation toward graduate study necessary for success in the Program. The PPA faculty have designed the course with an eye toward "what people need to know and be able to do" before proceeding further in their graduate work.

Our students typically bring diverse academic and work experiences to their studies. This course is organized to use that broad experiential and academic base through a variety of written and in-class assignments. I also hope that you will work with your fellow students to form a unique learning community which can serve as a support for you both intellectually and personally.

PPA 200 has a number of more specific learning objectives, including the following:

1. Familiarizing students with the major intellectual traditions (i.e., organizational theory, political science, economics, applied ethics) that form the intellectual structure for the study of public policy and administration;

2. Drawing on the above traditions to develop high quality policy analyses and ethical stands;

3. Providing understanding of the key institutional features that influence policy making and policy implementation in the U.S. generally and California specifically;

4. Building writing and presentation skills;

5. Enhancing the ability to work effectively in small groups;

6. Strengthening students’ abilities to assess their own professional and learning goals; and

7. Building an appreciation of the values, norms, and "best practices" of graduate education (this is perhaps most important).

 

EXPECTATIONS

Graduate seminars in our program are different from typical undergraduate courses; our courses tend to place a much larger value on student participation, group work, and drawing from colleagues as well as the instructor. PPA 200 is designed to highlight the active learning mode we expect of our students. Our aim is in part to "socialize" you into a way of approaching your classes that will be appropriate for the remainder of the PPA curriculum.

Accordingly, I have high expectations for how you will approach your work in PPA 200. Successful learning requires that you attend seminars regularly (no more than three absences are permitted, with the expectation that you will miss fewer than three classes), do the readings in advance of class, think about the discussion questions posed in the syllabus, participate actively in class discussion, and complete assignments on time.

I also expect that students will be comfortable using a computer, drawing on Internet resources, and communicating by electronic mail. You may use the campus computer labs if you do not have access to a computer at work or at home. Each student also should secure a CSUS e-mail (saclink) account if you do not already have e-mail access. You can obtain an application from the User Counter of the Science Building (third floor) of from the PPA office. I expect to communicate at times with all students by e-mail, and I will also develop means for you to communicate with each other in that manner.

 

READINGS

Required readings include: 1) a short course packet containing book chapters, case studies from the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) at Harvard University, etc., and 2) the following books:

Mark Baldassare, When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998);

Diana Hacker, "A Pocket Style Manual," Third Edition (Bedford Books: Boston, 1999);

Edward L. Lascher, Jr., The Politics of Automobile Insurance Reform: Ideas, Institutions, and Public Policy in North America (Washington: Georgetown University Press, 1999);

Steven Rhoads, The Economist’s View of the World: Government, Markets, and Public Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985); and

James Q. Wilson, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It (New York: Basic Books, 1989).

All readings are available from the Hornet Bookstore. Additionally, copies of each of the required books (but not the course reader) will be on two hour reserve at the CSUS library.

 

ASSIGNMENTS

There will be three short individual papers dispersed throughout the semester, a group presentation at the end of the term, and an in-class final examination. Detailed guidelines for the papers and group assignment will be provided. Additionally, at the end of the semester each student will be responsible for submitting a portfolio of his or her work during the semester. The portfolio will include, at a minimum: 1) selection of one of the short papers along with a brief reflective essay about the learning that occurred as a result of the assignment; and 2) a revised statement of learning and professional goals as well as an assessment of professional strengths and weaknesses.

 

GRADING WEIGHTS

Grading will be determined as follows:

Individual papers
Final exam
Group project
Class participation
Portfolio
30% (10% each)
25%
20%
20%
5%

 

 

 

DETAILED CLASS INFORMATION

I. INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT

 
 

A. INTRODUCTION

August 29

Reading

2000 PPA self study, pages 4-13, available on our Web site at: http://www.csus.edu/mppa/progreview/PPA_selfstudy.htm

Note: each CSUS academic department/unit is reviewed every few years by a faculty committee. The first step in such program reviews is preparation of a "self study" by the unit being reviewed; the aim of this study is to describe the academic discipline, outline student learning goals, explain how the curriculum is organized to meet such goals, discuss needed changes, etc. Our latest self study was completed early this year.

Discussion Questions

  1. What are your professional and academic goals?
  2. What do we hope students take away from the PPA program?

B. THE AMERICAN INSTITUTIONAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

September 5

Readings

Federalist Papers #10 and #51
Available on-line at http://www.mcs.com/~knautzr/fed/fedindex.htm

John W. Kingdon, America the Unusual (New York: St. Martin’s, 1999), pp. 7-17

Discussion Questions

  1. What were those who drafted the US Constitution trying to avoid in designing the national government the way they did?
  2. In a broad sense, how does the United States differ from other Western democracies? What are the policy implications of such differences?

C. SKILL BUILDING: USING ON-LINE LIBRARY RESOURCES, WRITING SUCCINCTLY AND CLEARLY

September 12

Paper #1 (memo writing exercise) due

Reading

Hacker, "A Pocket Style Manual:" read "Clarity" section carefully, skim remainder

Discussion

Come to class prepared to discuss the assignment

D. THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTIONAL AND CULTURAL CONTEXT

September 19

Readings

Baldassare, When Government Fails, chapters 1-3

Peter Schrag, Paradise Lost: California’s Experience, America’s Future (New York: The New Press), 1998, pp. 7-19

Discussion Questions

  1. In what ways is California’s governmental structure unlike that of the national government?
  2. What is the legacy of the Progressive period for California’s institutional structure and political culture?
  3. How has policy making in California changed since enactment of Proposition 12 in 1978?
  4. What are the broader factors (i.e., those unrelated to how Bob Citron ran the Orange County Investment Pool) that contributed to the Orange County bankruptcy?

September 26

Reading

Baldassare, When Government Fails, chapters 4-9

Discussion Questions

  1. What factors shaped the response to the Orange County bankruptcy?
  2. Could "Orange County happen again?"
  3. What are the larger lessons from the Orange County experience?

 

II. A SUMMARY OF THE MAJOR INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS

 
 

A. THE ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY TRADITION

October 3

Reading

Wilson, Bureaucracy, Parts I-III

"The Fourth Platoon" (KSG case)

Discussion Questions

  1. What concepts do organizational theorists bring to the study of public policy and administration?
  2. In explaining how bureaucracies work, what concepts does Wilson especially stress/
  3. How might Wilson explain what transpired in "The Fourth Platoon?"

October 10

Paper #2 (analysis of an organization you know well) due

Reading

Wilson, Bureaucracy, Parts IV, VI

Video (to be viewed in class)

"The California Franchise Tax Board: Strategies for a Changing Workforce" KSG video case)

Discussion

Come to class prepared to discuss your assignment

B. THE POLITICAL SCIENCE TRADITION

October 17

Reading

Lascher, The Politics of Automobile Insurance Reform, chapters 1-5

Discussion Questions

  1. What concepts do political scientists bring to the study of policy making?
  2. How do political science explanations differ? How do such differences relate to the study of automobile insurance reform?

October 24

Reading

Lascher, The Politics of Automobile Insurance Reform, chapters 6-8

Discussion Questions

  1. What do political scientists consider in evaluating how "institutions matter" to policy outcomes?
  2. How do political institutions matter in the specific case of automobile insurance reform?
  3. What types of explanations may political scientists be inclined to overlook?

C. THE ECONOMICS TRADITION

October 31

Readings

Rhoads, The Economist’s View of the World, part I

Discussion Questions

  1. What concepts and tools do economists bring to the study of public policy and administration?
  2. What key assumptions do economists make?
  3. How might economic concepts be used to evaluate contemporary public policy controversies in California?

November 7

Readings

Rhoads, The Economist’s View of the World, parts II-III

Discussion Questions

  1. What are the limits of what economics can contribute to the study of public policy and administration?
  2. To what extent is there a difference between what economics can tell us about how policy ought to be made and what it can tell us about how policy is made?

D. THE APPLIED ETHICS TRADITION

November 14

Readings

John R. Walton, James M. Stearns, and Charles T. Crespy, "Integrating Ethics Into the Public Administration Curriculum: A Three-Step Process,"

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 16 (1997), pp. 470-483

"The Senate Confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas" (KSG case)

Discussion Questions

  1. What does the field of applied ethics contribute to the study of public policy making?
  2. Given sharp differences in ethical perspectives, to what extent can we reach consensus about normative principles or standards?
  3. How should we evaluate the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas? Was the process of determining his fitness to serve on the Supreme Court a fair one?

November 21

Paper #3 (on the Arizona organ transplant case) due

Readings

"Defunding Organ Transplants in Arizona" (KSG case)

Discussion

Come to class prepared to discuss your assignment

 

III. PRAXIS: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

 
 

November 28

First Set of Group Presentations

December 5

1. Second Set of Group Presentations

2. Course wrap-up

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