Political Science
PS 428: Public Policy & the Environment (CRN 4674)
Winter, 2009
Paul Pavlich
Office: TA 133 (Hours: M 10-12, TR 12-1, W 11-12)
pavlich@sou.edu
541.552.6130
http://www.sou.edu/polisci/pavlich.html
SYLLABUS
WHO makes environmental policy? HOW is environmental policy made? WHAT does the phrase “environmental policy” mean? When this class is over student should be able to respond coherently to those three questions.
That is, students will learn which government officials and institutions are responsible for making and implementing environmental policy. They will become familiar with the tools available to the policy makers and implementers (i. e. how they do it). With this foundation a student should be able to make sense of most policy process, whether your interest with the “environment” or some other realm of public policy.
OBJECTIVE: Students should demonstrate a mastery of the various stages and phases of the public policy process in the
PEDAGOGY: Class will be conducted in a combination of lectures, classroom discussions, and "Socratic" dialogues. For those unfamiliar with the Socratic Method, students are called upon to answer a series of questions raised by or about the reading for the day. This process enhances student capacity to recognize and analyze questions in forms other than those presented by the readings.
In addition, students will become familiar with many primary sources for following the policy process while researching a policy area of their choosing. Some of these are online sources and others are government documents available at the SOU library. Students will receive a primer on using these sources from an SOU librarian during one or more regular class meetings.
STUDENT EVALUATION: Students will be evaluated on their development of an ongoing “model” and strategy for a specific policy problem. This model will be divided into four discrete parts which amount to four distinct exercises, or “take home exams” each with a research component. Each student will begin by identifying a policy problem of sufficient specificity that it can be “captured and studied.” This means the topic must be sufficiently manageable that the student can actually complete exercises for the class that are not Ph. D. dissertation length tomes.
After initially identifying a topic, students will craft strategies or analyze problems involved in four separate stages or elements of the policy process pursuant to detailed instructions provided by the instructor. Each student response will a short typed, double spaced paper (3-4 pages). Each exercise is worth 25 points.
The topic identification process will be developed more fully on the first day of class. For the purposes of the syllabus it is important to note that each student’s student will identify a topic early on in the class, it will be refined regularly as part of the 4 exercises described above.
Apart from the four exercises, students may receive a few additional points for class participation. One class participation component includes the ‘Socratic dialog.” Most class meeting will feature four or five students taking the lead in discussing that reading assignment. These students in effect think out loud and teach their peers the material for the day. Each student is expected to become one of the principal participants in two or three class discussions during the term. Students, who fail to participate when designated as the lead discussants on a given day, or who participate in a grossly deficient manner, will lose points earned elsewhere in the class.
Throughout the term, the class can expect a small number of extra credit opportunities to emerge from class discussions. These arise is a variety of unanticipated contexts, but can be distilled to the following formula. The class as a group is discussing some issue or phenomenon and it will become apparent to all that certain “facts” are missing from the discussion necessary to bring it to fruition. One or more students will be given the opportunity to do a brief independent research project, to come back to the class and report the missing facts. No writing (other than perhaps an emailed list of sources) is required.
The game played on the second day of class provides class participation opportunities for successful teams. A second game or simulation may be played later in the term, again with extra credit points available for successful participation.
There are no exams for the course.
Attendance, Scheduling & Miscellaneous: Roll is not taken and attendance does not figure into the grading. However, students should recognize that class meetings also serve as a medium for communicating to them about changes in the initial class schedule. Information concerning the class, not contained in the syllabus, is generally communicated at one class meeting and then noted on the class website, but not repeated elsewhere. This may include additional reading assignments, handouts, exercise information, modifications in the timing of class events and identification of "Socratic Dialogue" participants. Students bear the entire responsibility to ensure that they understand the requirements for the class by either attending regularly or making other arrangements to ascertain any revisions in the pace or direction of the course. Accordingly, students are encouraged to pay attention in class or check the class web site frequently to see if the Daily Schedule has been modified.
Additionally, based upon prior student experience, it helps to come to class if you expect to succeed on the exercises
Here are some cautionary notes regarding grading for this class:
(A) Students should keep a copy of all written exercises. The burden of loss of any missing written work will rest entirely on the student. Late assignments are not accepted
(B) Class grades will be assigned based upon a rough curve comparing point totals accumulated by students over the entire term. No individual exercise will be assigned a letter grade. Rather you will be given a point total. After each exercise, students will be shown two "curves" enabling them (1) to compare their point totals with others for the discrete exercise and (2) compare their cumulative point totals for all exercises given by that point in the term.
(C) The principles articulated in the SOU policy on academic dishonesty are applicable to this class.
(D) If you are in need of academic support because of a documented disability (whether it is psychiatric, learning, mobility, health-related, or sensory), you may be eligible for academic accommodations through disability services for students. Contact Disability Services for Students; Director, DSS; 552-6213; or schedule an appointment in person at the
DAILY SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
January 6: Overview of the course
January 8: A little game.
January 13-20 Getting the train going: How does the policy process get started? An examination of the policy formulation and agenda setting tools necessary to initiate or reconfigure the policy process. In order to make bring together the diverse groups and interests necessary to formulate policy, an agenda must be created and agreed upon and a policy problem identified along with some goals and solutions. And then there is arrival at the station. Once a coalition of the willing is formulated a process for achieving the goals including identification of appropriate policy tools, allocation of burdens and benefits and a map for reaching the destination must be developed. ? What can “government” do? What can’t it do? By the way, who is “the government?” How do we know what a “public policy” is when we confront it? Can you distinguish it from a government program? (Read Ch 2)
January 20-22: History and evolution of Environmental Policy. Beginning with a brief history of “environmental policies,” students will confront the current state of the environment in order to develop possible policy objectives and means for achieving them. In any policy area, there are a variety of factors that enhance or deflect the policy making process. Invariably they are arranged into the categories called political, economic, sociological and scientific factors. In this section we will sort through some of those factors in order to anticipate how they may affect efforts to better understand the possibilities and limits of environmental policy making. What counts as an environmental problem and why? What are the core values or goals associated with “environmentalism?” Is it possible to square them with other social goals and objectives or even reduce them to a coherent public policy? What is “Public Policy?” What are the elements or components of a Public Policy? (READ: Ch. 1) (suggested: Federalist #10)
Exercise #1: Due Thursday January 22 at the beginning of class
January 22- February 5th: Who makes (“legitimizes”) Environmental Policy? Develop an understanding of the policy process including the policy making mandates embedded in the Constitution. Examine political institutions their culture and incentives, and the tools of policy making. How do we know when or if policy is made or legitimized? Distinguish law from implementation. What is the capacity of any institution to implement its goals and objectives? For example: What is the
February 5 Second Exercise due at the beginning of class
February 10-26 Congress, Administrative Agencies, Courts & Environmental Policy Making: a review of the challenges of government regulation, enforcement and compliance using pollution control as a case study. The (current) dominant approach for environmental policy (protection and promotion) is government regulation by a public agency. The first form of environmental regulation was the private, common law lawsuit. However the proverbial paradigm shifted and the public agency regime has trumped the private lawsuit. This is not an overnight phenomenon and in fact is part of a larger transformation of the relationship between citizens and the national government.
In response to abuses or arbitrary behavior by these agencies, a body of legal norms known as "Administrative Law" has developed to "democratize" agency behavior. Public regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency are subject to these norms which govern, authorize and limit their capacity to affect public policy. In order to understand the policy making and implementation regime of these agencies, it is important to understand their relationship with legislatures and courts, as well as to understand the role of the citizen as simultaneous subject and overseer of these agencies and their policies.
Further just because a policy is announced and reduced to law, doesn’t mean it will be implemented. Government has a variety of tools available to “encourage” compliance with a policy. However, resource obstacles, understood broadly to include everything from absence of political will to limitations on budget to hire appropriate or adequate personnel, all factor into the policy implementation equation. We will examine the array of tools including criminal and administrative “prosecutions,” citizen enforcement, permitting, mandated reporting and public information, audits and alternative dispute resolution in the environmental policy making realm.
(READ: (1) Administrative Law, (2) Federal Administrative Procedures Act, (3) Text Ch 6-9: Not all of these chapters will be relevant to each student’s policy area. However all will be drawn upon for examples in class discussions and one or more will be useful to each student in developing their policy question.)
Exercise #3: Due Thursday February 26 at the beginning of class
March 3, 10-12: Tools of policy evaluation: Risk analysis and management, Standard Setting and Benefit Cost Analysis etc. No policy remains static. It is constantly being challenged, found wanting, enhanced or defended by stakeholders from across the political and social spectrum. Current policies are routinely evaluated: by identifying their goals and determining whether current means, budgets, personnel etc are meeting those objectives Risk analysis and management and cost benefit analysis are two prominent techniques for assessing and evaluating current programs as well as investigating. Moreover it is important to acknowledge that this assessment takes place in a highly charged political environment; one for example where Congress, the President and agencies have very different agendas and resources. We explore the question: How do assessment, evaluation and impact analysis affect the dynamic between politician and administrator? (READ: Ch 4-5) No class on Thursday, March 5.
Exercise #4: Due Tuesday March 17th at 10 am (Scheduled time for Final Exam)
