CARLETON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION PADM 6114 Foundations of Policy Analysis Instructor: Frances Abele Time: Mondays, 11:25 14:25 Office: 1015 DT Location: 1111DT Email: Frances_Abele@carleton.ca Office hours: by appointment Course Description The course analyzes some of the major theoretical traditions that have contributed to the explanation and analysis of public policy in Canada. It ranges widely over disciplines and debates both domestic and international, with an emphasis on constructive comparisons and the assessment of various approaches. By the conclusion of the course, you will understand the main approaches to policy analysis as it is currently practiced. You will be able to situate them in the history of social scientific thought, and explain their strengths and weaknesses. You will also have become familiar with a range of important scholarly journals publishing in the broad and diverse field of policy analysis, and with the practical landscape of public policy development and studies in our time. The course is a seminar, and responsibility for leading particular sessions will be shared among class members. Required Texts Jeremy Leonard, Christopher Ragan, France St. Hilaire. 2007. A Canadian Priorities Agenda: Policy Choices to Improve Economic and Social Well-Being. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy. Jean Bethke Elshtain, Real Politics: At the Center of Everyday Life. 1997. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1
Evaluation Journal review 10% due Sept 15, 2008 Essay 60% due Nov 24, 2008 Book review 20% due Dec 6, 2008 Class participation 10% Assignments Assignment 1: Journal review due September 15, 2008 The purpose of this assignment is to ensure that all members of the class begin the course with a strong understanding of the scholarly journals in which research and analysis relevant to public policy may be found. Members of the class will select a set of journals from a list provided by the professor. They will review the full publication record of each journal, and come prepared to discuss the journals in class. The emphasis should be upon (1) a general characterization of the types of articles selected by the journal for publication (consider discipline, focus, topics, and analytical or ideological stance, for example) and (2) changes in the journal s content over time. If a journal that you believe is important does not appear on the instructor s list, it may be added with the consent of the class. You will be graded on the content of your oral presentation and any written material you might prepare for the class discussion. Weight: 10% of course grade Assignment 2: Essay due November 24, 2008 You have a choice. (1) Choose one of the debates or issues posed by any of the contributions in Jeremy Leonard et al, A Canadian Priorities Agenda: Policy Choices to Improve Economic and Social Well-Being. Respond to the positions outlined. You may focus on method or substance, but in all cases, your answer should make use of some of the readings for the course. OR (2) Isolate an issue that has arisen in the course of your readings for the course, or in class discussion. Develop and defend an argument that is related to some of the main themes under discussion in the course. For either option: 2
Write an essay of 2,500 to 3,500 words. The theme you chose should be obviously related to the study of public policy, but that is the only limitation. In grading, I will assess accuracy (concerning the views upon which you are commenting), logic (strength of argumentation), and clarity of expression. Assignment 3: Book review due December 6, 2008 Write a review of one of the books on the list provided by the instructor, with the aim of assessing or situating the book in the scholarly literature, or in public policy, relying upon the concepts covered in the course. Your model for the book review should be those published in scholarly disciplinary journals choice of discipline is up to you. Length: Weight: 700 words 20% of course grade Class participation will be assessed on the basis of your participation throughout the course, as well as your performance in leading one or more class discussions. The assessment will be based on the extent to which you appear to have read and understood the readings, and your responsiveness to discussion and debate. 3
Syllabus Week 1: Policy Analysis in Context September 8, 2008 This week introduces the class to the course, and also to the broad field of policy analysis. We will discuss the historical development of the main strands of social analysis that now shape and sustain the practice of policy analysis and review its many presentday expressions and debates. Arrangements will be made for the completion of the first assignment, which is due September 15. Week 2: The Journals September 15, 2008 Policy analysis is not an academic discipline, but rather an activity that draws upon many disciplines and areas of human knowledge. It follows that there is no set of academic journals that comprehensively and conclusively define the field. Nevertheless, there are a number of journals, published in Canada and elsewhere, in which a good selection of relevant and important analyses relevant to public policy analysis may be found. Members of the class will present their analyses of some of these basic journals, with the object of sharing what they have learned with their classmates and ensuring that everyone gains some understanding of the breadth and diversity of the field. The work that we do in this class will also be helpful to you as you prepare to develop a thesis topic and later, as you consider venues for the publication of your work. Week 3: Social Science and Public Policy September 22, 2008 Denis Saint-Martin, Building the New Managerialist State: Consultants and the Politics of Public Sector Reform in Comparative Perspective. Oxford, 2000. Selection. Jane Jenson, The Canadian Citizenship Regime in a Conservative Era in Rainer-Olaf Schultze, Roland Sturm, and Dagmar Eberle, eds. Conservative Parties and Right-Wing Politics in North America: Reaping the Benefits of an Ideological Victory? Leske and Budrich, 2003. Frank Fischer, Policy Discourse and the Politics of Washington Think Tanks in Frank Fischer and John Forester, eds. The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning. Duke University Press, 1993. John Dryzek, Policy Analysis and Planning: From Science to Argument in Frank Fischer and John Forester, eds. The Argumentative Turn in Policy Analysis and Planning. Duke University Press, 1993. 4
Elshtain, Chapters 1 and 2. Week 4: The Origins of Modern Ideas September 29, 2008 Karl Marx, The German Ideology: Part I pp 110 164 in Robert C. Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader Norton: 1972. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations. Selections. John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy. Pp 795-822, 941-979. Wood, Ellen Meiksins, Introduction to The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. Verso, 2002. Week 5: Twentieth Century Ideas in Historical Perspective October 6, 2008 John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Harcourt, 1964. Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 24. Karl Polanyi. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Beacon 1968 (1944). Pp 3-76, 135-162, 249-258. Elshtain Chapter 20. C. B. Macpherson, The Economic Penetration of Political Theory: Some Hypotheses in The Rise and Fall of Economic Justice, and Other Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989, chapters 1, 2, 25. Week 6: Canadian Foundations October 20, 2008 J. A. Corry, Growth of Government Activities Since Confederation. Ottawa, 1939, Selections. A. R. M. Lower et al, Evolving Canadian Federalism. Durham: Duke University Press, 1958. Miriam Smith, Institutionalism in the Study of Canadian Politics: The English-Canadian Tradition in André Lecours, New Institutionalism: Theory and Analysis. U of T Press, 2005. 5
Stephen Brooks and Alain G.-Gagnon, Social Scientists and Politics in Canada. Introduction, and Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queens, 1988. Week 7: Public Choice October 27, 2008 Mancur Olson, The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971 (1965). Chapters I, IV, V, VI. Jac C. Heckelman and Dennis Coates, On the Shoulders of a Giant: The Legacy of Mancur Olson in Jac C. Heckelman and Dennis Coates, ed. Collective Choice: Essays in Honour of Mancur Olson. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2003. Walter Hettich and Stanley L. Winer, Decision Externalities, Economic Efficiency and Institutional Response Canadian Public Policy 21(3), September 1995, pages 344-361. (online) Keith L. Dougherty, Precursors of Mancur Olson in Jac C. Heckelman and Dennis Coates, ed. Collective Choice: Essays in Honour of Mancur Olson. Berlin: Springer- Verlag, 2003. Week 8: The New Canadian Political Economy November 3, 2008 Daniel Drache, Rediscovering Canadian Political Economy in Wallace Clement and Daniel Drache, A Practical Guide to Canadian Political Economy. Toronto: James Lorimer and Company, 1978. Leo Panitch, Introduction to Leo Panitch, ed. The Canadian State: Political Economy and Political Power. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1978. Peter Graefe, Political Economy and Canadian Public Policy in Michael Orsini and Miriam Smith, Critical Policy Studies. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007. Daniel Salée, Canadian Political Economy and the Theory of the Contemporary State: Critical Persepctives on the Sociological Imagination Journal of Canadian Studies Winter 1996-97. (on-line) Leah Vosco, The Pasts (and Futures) of Feminist Political Economy in Canada: Reviving the Debate Studies in Political Economy 68 (Summer 2002) pp 55-84. 6
Week 9: Ideas, Institutions and Processes I November 10, 2008 E. P. Thompson, Conclusion Whigs and Hunters: The Origin of the Black Act. New York: Pantheon, 1975. Theda Skocpol, Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research in Peter B. Evans, Deitrich Rueschmeyer and Theda Skocpol, eds. Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge University Press, 1985. Bruce Doern and Richard Phidd, 2 nd ed. Canadian Public Policy: Ideas, Structures, Processes. Scarborough: Nelson, 1992. Selections. Gosta Esping-Anderson, Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Selections. Week 10: Ideas, Institutions and Processes II November 17, 2008 André Lecours, New Institutionalism: Issues and Questions in André Lecours, New Institutionalism: Theory and Analysis. U of T Press, 2005. Hudson Meadwell, Institutions and Political Rationality in André Lecours, New Institutionalism: Theory and Analysis. U of T Press, 2005. Sven Steinmo, The New Institutionalism in B. Clark and J. Fowerak, eds. The Encyclopedia of Democratic Thought. London: Routledge, 2001. (on-line) M. J. Gorges, Blind Alley: New Institutionalist Explanations for Institutional Change: A Note of Caution Politics 21 (2), pp 137-145. (on-line) Week 11: Debates November 24, 2008 Karen Bridget Murray, Governmentality and the Shifting Winds in Michael Orsini and Miriam Smith, Critical Policy Studies. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007 Michel Foucault, Lecture Two, pp. 92-108, in Colin Gordon (ed.) Power/Knowledge: Michael Foucault (New York: Pantheon, 1985). Elshtain Chapter 22. Susan Phillips, The Intersection of Governance and Citizenship in Canada: Not Quite the Third Way (IRPP, 2006) http://www.irpp.org/indexe.htm Rianne Mahon, Varieties of Liberalism: Canadian Social Policy from the Golden Age to the Present Social Policy and Administration 42:4 2008 7
Week 12: Debates December 1, 2008 Jeremy Leonard, Christopher Ragan, France St. Hilaire. 2007. A Canadian Priorities Agenda: Policy Choices to Improve Economic and Social Well-Being. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy. This class consists of a structured discussion of Leonard et al. Details to be provided in class. 8
Selected Public Policy Journals Canadian Public Policy Canadian Review of Social Policy Studies in Political Economy Canadian Journal of Political Science Canadian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Policy Sciences Policy Studies Policy Studies Review American Review of Public Administration Environmental Politics Global Environmental Politics Social Policy and Administration European Journal of Social Policy Journal of Policy Analysis and Management Economic Policy Canadian Journal of Development Studies Journal of Comparative Public Policy Journal of Policy Analysis and Management Journal of Public Economics American Economic Review Policy and Politics Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory The Economists Voice [http://www.bepress.com/ev] American Review of Public Administration Governance Journal of European Public Policy Policy Studies Journal