Western Michigan University
School of Public Affairs and Administration
PADM 6650, Public Policy: Theory and Research
Spring 2015
Readings and Course Plan
A. The Science of Public Policy
1. Basics of Public Policy (1/13)
Cochran & Malone. (2014). Chs. 1 and 2.
2. Directions and Challenges in the Field (1/20)
Brewer, Garry D. (1974). The Policy Sciences Emerge: To Nurture and Structure a Discipline.
Policy Sciences, 5(3), 239–44.
Clemons, Randy S. & McBeth, Mark K. (2009). Public Policy Praxis: A Case Approach for
Understanding Policy and Analysis, 2e. New York, NY: Pearson. Ch. 1, pp 1-37. (LRE)
deLeon, Peter. (1994). Reinventing the Policy Sciences: Three Steps Back to the Future. Policy
Sciences, 27(1), 77-95.
deLeon, Peter. (1998). Models of Policy Discourse: Insights versus Prediction. Policy Studies
Journal, 26(1), 147-161.
Lasswell, Harold. (1951) The Policy Orientation. In Harold Lasswell & Daniel Lerner (eds.), The
Policy Sciences: Recent Developments in Scope and Method (pp. 3-14). Stanford: Stanford
University Press. (LRE)
Farr, James, Hacker, Jacob, & Kazee, Nicole. (2006). The Policy Scientist of Democracy: The
Discipline of Harold D. Lasswell. American Political Science Review, 100(4), 579-87.
Wagle, Udaya. (2000). The Policy Science of Democracy: The Issues of Methodology and
Citizen Participation. Policy Sciences, 33(2), 207-23.
Weible (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 1.
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B. Markets and Political Economy
3. Markets and the Economy (1/27)
Caporaso, James & Levine, David. (1992). Theories of Political Economy. New York:
Cambridge University Press. Chs. 3 and 5; pp. 55-78 and 100-125. (LRE)
Cochran & Malone. (2014). Chs. 4 and 5.
Friedman, Milton. (1962). Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press. Chs.
Introduction, 1, and 2, pp 1-36. (LRE)
Gamble, Andrew. (1995). The New Political Economy. Political Studies, 43(3), 516-530.
Stokey, Edith & Zackhauser, Richard. (1978). A Primer for Policy Analysis. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton. Ch. 13, pp. 291-319. (LRE)
4. Rationality and Critics (2/03)
Clemons, Randy S. & McBeth, Mark K. (2009). Public Policy Praxis: A Case Approach for
Understanding Policy and Analysis, 2e. New York, NY: Pearson. Chs. 2 and 3, pp. 38-68.
(LRE)
Galbraith, John K. (1958). The Affluent Society. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Ch. 2, pp. 7-20.
(LRE)
Hardin, Garrett. (1968). The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162(Dec), 1243-48. (OA:
http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html)
Lindblom, Charles. (1995). Market and Democracy—Obliquely. PS: Political Science and
Politics, 28(4), 684-88.
Meier, Kenneth J. (1982). Political Economy and Cost Benefit Analysis: Problems of Bias. In
Alan Stone & Edward Harpham (Eds.), The Political Economy of Public Policy (pp. 143-62).
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. (LRE)
Stone, Deborah. (2011). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton. Ch. 1, pp. 19-36. (LRE)
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5. The Politics of Policy (2/10)
Denzau, Arthur T. & Munger, Michael C. (1986). Legislators and Interest Groups: How
Unorganized Interests Get Represented. American Political Science Review, 80(1), 89-106.
Kraft, Michael E. & Furlong, Scott R. (2004). Public Policy: Politics, Analysis, and Alternatives.
Washington, DC: CQ Press. Ch. 2, pp. 32-67. (LRE)
Cochran & Malone. (2014). Ch. 3.
Thurow, Lester. (1980). A Zero-Sum Society: Distribution and the Possibilities for Economic
Change. New York, NY: Basic Books. Ch. 1, pp. 3-25. (LRE)
Stone, Deborah. (2011). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. New York, NY:
W.W. Norton. Chs. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, pp. 39-153. (LRE)
Galston, William A. (2006). Political Feasibility: Interests and Power. In Michael Moran, Martin
Rein, & Robert E. Goodin (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy (pp. 543-56). New
York, NY: Oxford University Press. (LRE)
C. Theories of the Policy Process
6. The Formal Policymaking Process (2/17)
Stewart, Joseph, Jr., Hedge, David M., & Lester, James P. (2008). Public Policy: An
Evolutionary Approach, 3e. Chs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 (LRE)
Wildavsky, Aaron. (1979). Speaking Truth to Power: The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis.
Boston, MA: Little Brown. Introduction, pp. 1-19. (LRE)
Kingdon, John. (1995). Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies, 2e. New York, NY: Addison
Wesley Longman. Ch. 9, pp. 196-208. (LRE)
Mettler & SoRalle (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 5.
7. Alternative Views of Institutions and Rationality (2/24)
Chanley, Sharon A. & Alozie, Nicholas O. (2001). Policy for the 'Deserving', But Politically
Weak: The 1996 Welfare Reform Act and Battered Women. Policy Studies Review, 18(2), 125.
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Lindblom, Charles. (1959). The Science of Muddling Through. Public Administration Review,
19(2), 79-88.
Etzioni, Amtai. (1967). Mixed Scanning: ‘Third’ Approach to Decision Making. Public
Administration Review, 27(5), 385-92.
Ostrom (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 8.
Schneider, Ingram, and deLeon (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 4.
Weimer, David L. (2002). An Institutional Rational Choice Perspective on Biomedicine. Swiss
Political Science Review, 8(3-4), 149-55.
8. Narration, Networks, and Subsystems (3/03)
Helco, Hugh. (1978). Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment. In Anthony King (Ed.),
The New American Political System, pp. 87-124. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise
Institute. (LRE)
Howlett, Michael & Ramesh, M. (1998). Policy Subsystem Configurations and Policy Change:
Operationalizing the Postpositivist Analysis of the Politics of the Policy process. Policy
Studies Journal, 26(3), 466-81.
Jenkins-Smith, Nohrstedt, Weible, & Sabatier (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 6.
Jines & Shanahan (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 7.
Jones, Bryan D. (2002). Bounded Rationality and Public Policy: Herbert Simon and the
Decisional Foundation of Collective Choice. Policy Sciences, 35(3), 269-84.
John, Peter. (2003). Is There Life after Policy Streams, Advocacy Coalitions, and Punctuations:
Using Evolutionary Theory to Explain Policy Change? Policy Studies Journal, 31(4), 481-98.
Zahariadis (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 2.
9. Comparative Perspectives (3/17)
Baumgartner, Jones, & Mortensen (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 3.
Berry & Berry (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 9.
Cairney & Heikkila (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 10.
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Cohen, Michael D., March, James G., & Olsen, Johan P. (1972). A Garbage Can Model of
Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1-25.
Schlager, E. & Blomquist, W. (1996). A Comparison of Three Emerging Theories of the Policy
Process. Political Research Quarterly, 49(3), 651-72.
Weible (from Sabatier & Weible). (2014). Ch. 11.
D. Policy Application
10. Social Security and Welfare (3/24)
Blank, Rebecca. (2003). Selecting Among Anti-Poverty Policies: Can an Economist Be Both
Critical and Caring? Review of Social Economy, 61(4), 447-69.
DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Procter, Bernadetter, & Smith, Jessica. (2013). Income, Poverty, and
Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012. Current Population Reports, US
Census Bureau. (OA: https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-245.pdf)
Cochran & Malone. (2014). Ch. 6.
Murphy, Kevin M. & Welch, Finis. (1998). Perspectives on the Social Security Crisis and
Proposed Solutions. American Economic Review, 88(2), 142-50.
Peters, Guy. (2007). American Public Policy: Promise and Performance, 7e. Washington, DC:
CQ Press. Ch. 11, pp. 281-318. (LRE)
Wagle, Udaya. (2013). The Heterogeneity Link of the Welfare State and Redistribution: Ethnic
Heterogeneity, Welfare State Policies, Poverty and Inequality in High Income Countries. New
York: Springer. Chs. 3 and 4; pp. 45-102.
11. Health Care (3/31)
Clemmitt, Marcia. (June 2010). Health Care Reform. CQ Researcher, 20(22), 505-28.
Cochran & Malone. (2014). Ch. 9.
Courtemanche, Charles and Zapata, Daniela. (2014). Does Universal Coverage Improve Health?
The Massachusetts Experience. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 36-69.
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Karsten, Siegfried G. (1995). Health Care: Private Good vs. Public Good. American Journal of
Economics and Sociology, 54(2), 129-44.
Pauly, Mark V. (2002). Why the United States Does Not Have Universal Health Insurance: A
Public Finance and Public Choice Perspective. Public Finance Review, 30(5), 349-65.
Peters, Guy. (2007). American Public Policy: Promise and Performance, 7e. Washington, DC:
CQ Press. Ch. 10, pp. 241-80. (LRE)
Williams, John. (2015). A Systems Thinking Approach to Analysis of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. Journal of Public Health Management Practice, 21(1), 6-11.
12. Seminar Presentations (4/07)
No further readings.
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