Professor John Witte
217 North Hall
witte@lafollette.wisc.edu
262-5715
PS 695, Fall 2007
Office Hrs.: 10:00-11:30 T
By Appointment
CRITICAL PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY
Course Description
This is a course in American policy problems, focusing on four policy areas:
homelessness; housing; immigration; and education. The course begins with two weeks
of policy theory and process and then devotes three weeks to each of the problems. In
each problem area, there is a central book that anchors the readings. By design the books
take different approaches to analyzing policies. For example, the first book by Kim
Hopper on homelessness utilizes an ethnographic approach; the second by David
Mechanic, a sociologist, is focused on the large-scale policy problems in healthcare.
Dowell Mayer is a demographer and brings his tools to assess the problem of
immigration. Richard Rothstein is a journalist and activist and brings those traits to
consider the problem of education in America. You undoubtedly will not enjoy all the
books and approaches equally, but all are used and necessary in understanding complex
public policies and solutions.
Course Objectives
The objectives of the course are first to familiarize students with various approaches to
and analytical tools for policy analysis and evaluation. The second objective is to
provide a middle-range understanding of a set of policy problems and purported
solutions. It is my hope that interest in one or more areas will encourage students to take
subsequent full semester courses devoted to policies of interest. Third, I hope to
stimulate students concerning public policy issues in general, hopefully leading some to
careers or further education in the field.
Finally the course is a writing intensive course. What that means is that there will be a
major paper in the course. In addition, there will be several benchmarks along the way.
The first is a one paragraph “abstract” and outline due November 4. I will return these
with comments on November 11. The second is a “selection” from the paper due on
November 18. We will discuss the length of this further in class. I will go over these in
some detail for writing problems to aid in writing the final paper. The final paper is due
December 9th. Only the final paper will be graded.
Course Requirements
Course grades will be determined by performance on:
In-Class mid-term examination on Monday October 28: 20%
A final examination on December 16: 30%
An approximately 20-page term paper on a subject to be mutually determined:40%
(Due December 9)
Class participation: 10%
Course Readings
Readings for the course are from four books available at either The University Bookstore
or Underground Books. Most other readings are available in the Social Science Copy
Center on the 6th floor of the Sewell building..
Kim Hopper, Reckoning with Homelessness (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University,
2003).
David Mechanic, The Truth About Healthcare: Why Reform is Not Working in
America (Newark, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006).
Dowell Myers, Immigrants and Boomers (New York: Russell Sage, 2007).
Richard Rothstein, Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational
Reform to Close the Black-White Education Gap (Washington D.C.:
Economic Policy Institute, 2004).
Course Schedule
Session #1: September 2. Introduction, Policy Theories
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Chris Kofinis, The Art of the Game: Understanding
American Public Policy Making. (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004), chapter 5.
Charles E. Lindblom and Edward J. Woodhouse, The Policy-Making Process,
Prentice Hall, third edition, 1993, pp. 2-32.
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Session #2: September 9. Agenda Setting, Policy Design, and Analysis
Stella Z. Theodoulou and Chris Kofinis, The Art of the Game: Understanding
American Public Policy Making. (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004), chapters 7 & 8.
John Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies (New York: Harper
Collins, second edition, 1995), chapters 4 to 8.
Session #3: September 16. Homelessness # 1.
Christopher Jenks, The Homeless (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1994),
chapters 1 and 2.
Kim Hopper, Reckoning with Homelessness, Part I, chapters 1 and 2.
Session #4: September 23. Homelessness # 2.
Kim Hopper, Reckoning with Homelessness, Part II, chapters 3-6
Session #5: September 30. Homelessness # 3.
Kim Hopper, Reckoning with Homelessness, Part III, chapters 7 and 8.
Christopher Jenks, The Homeless (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1994),
chapter 11.
Session #6: October 7. Healthcare # 1
Healthcare Policy Brief. To be distributed by email.
David Mechanic, The Truth About Healthcare: Why Reform is Not Working in
America, chapters 1-3.
Session #7: October 14. Healthcare #2
David Mechanic, The Truth About Healthcare: Why Reform is Not Working in
America, chapters 4-6.
Session #8: October 21. Healthcare #3
David Mechanic, The Truth About Healthcare: Why Reform is Not Working in
America, chapters 7-11.
Session #9: October 28. Review and Mid-term Examination.
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Session #10: November 4. Immigration # 1
Dowell Myers, Immigrants and Boomers, chapters 1-6.
Paper Abstract and Outline Due.
Session #11: November 11. Immigration Policy and Issues # 2
Dowell Myers, Immigrants and Boomers, chapters 7-9.
Session #12: November 18. Immigration Policy and Issues # 3
Dowell Myers, Immigrants and Boomers, chapters 10 – 12.
Paper “Selection” Due.
Session #13: November 25. Education #1
Education Policy Brief. To be distributed by email.
Richard Rothstein, Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational
Reform to Close the Black-White Education Gap, chapters 1 and 2.
Session #14: December 2. Education #2
Richard Rothstein, Class and Schools: Using Social, Economic, and Educational
Reform to Close the Black-White Education Gap, chapters 3 – 5.
Session #15: December 9. Education #3
Readings to be announced and distributed by email.
FINAL PAPER DUE DECEMBER 9
FINAL EXAM: DECEMBER 16, 10:05AM TO 12:05PM
Room to be announced.
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