
Public Policy Syllabus, Summer
2014
ENST20750 #30213
This is the syllabus for ENST20750 (course #30213) offered by
Professor Wayne Hayes as an online course offered in
the Summer Session I semester at Ramapo College,
School of Social Science and Human Service. We will use
a course wiki and
Bulletin
Board, which will require that you register and sign in. To contact me, please email
me at my Ramapo eddress: whayes@ramapo.edu.
Welcome to the online
syllabus supporting Public Policy for the summer of 2014.
This course, organized around a dedicated Internet
site,
explains the processes that shape public policy in the
United States, emphasizing environmental policy, economic
policy, globalization, and sustainable development ---
and what it all means for you.
Note: the ovals in the
logo above link to the corresponding section of the course
and the "^" symbols below return the browser to the top
of the page.
Course Description and Curricular Role
The Ramapo College Catalog includes this course despricption for Public Policy (ENST 207): A systematic approach to the political processes and institutions which shape public policy in the U.S. Case studies focus on current policy determination, economic and fiscal affairs, and environmental regulation. The course's curricular role includes the examination of public policy supporting sustainability. The course carries four credits.
ENST207 fulfills several curricular roles:
- The course meets the sustainability requirement of the core of the School of Social Sciemce and Human Services.
- The course counts as a General Education Topics in the Social Science Category.
- The course is required in the Environmental Studies major.
- The course is required in the Public Policy minor.
Two principal goals should direct your effort here:
- The student should identify, explain, and apply key concepts
and terms underlying the public policy process, grasping public policy as an
unfolding dynamic, the Public Policy Cycle. The student will demonstrate proficiency in achieving this goal through two essays submitted as the course proceeds.
- The student should demonstrate an operational comprehension of public
policy options that support sustainability. the student will demonstrate achievement of this goal through a short paper based largely on course material that provides policies that support sustainability.
To guide our inquiry, we will consider these basic related questions:
- What is public policy? How broad is its scope? How does public
policy involve and impact us? Does the public policy making process work
effectively?
- How is the public policy agenda set? Who and what have been ignored?
What is power? Who has it and who does not?
- How is public policy formulated? What institutions and actors
make policy? What are the limits of rational analysis? Of politics? How is
policy ultimately authorized?
- How is public policy implemented? How big and intrusive are
government bureaucracies? How might the administration of programs be
improved?
- Who pays for public policy? What is the public policy
budget? How are taxes raised and lowered
and for whom? What was the recent stimulus and
deficit debate all about? What fiscal tools are
used to steer national and global economies?
- How do we assess the
effects of public policy? How is it working? How do we know? Who are
the winners and the losers?
Aspects of globalization and sustainability will be explained and
discussed, consistent with the
Ramapo College Mission
Statement and the course's curricular role. Cases illustrating policy dynamics will be drawn from current
events within the USA and around the world. Your final essay will demonstrate a competence in desigining and explaining a public policy program for sustainability.
The course materials are:
- The main text is my The Public
Policy Web Site. A running commentary will be linked from our course
wiki Bulletin
Board. Frequently visit our schedule of class
activities, an essential course resource that lays out the sequence and
timing of events.
- Lester R. Brown. World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse.
New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011.
- Keep tuned and informed: Digest daily a diverse menu of news
media and keep. Please enroll for an online digital subscription to the New York Times. While we should
all digest a variety of news sources, we should
all share one source of record for our course.
The New York Times comprehensively covers local, state, national, and international news.
Course Enrichment Component ^
Experiential learning: Students will closely follow current national
and international affairs. We will all peruse the New York Times and be
prepared to inject policy-relevant issues throughout the course. This fulfills
the Ramapo College requirement for an experiential learning component in this
course. Pay special attention to these topics: energy, environment, climate change, and inequality. As important topics emerge, I will call them to your attention to the interactive Public Policy wiki.
Expect to spend one hour per week examining current news media for articles that relate to course material. During the first three weeks, study aspects of the Public Policy Cycle. In the last two weeks, focus on aspects of sustainability policy.
Grading and Assignments ^
Grading will be based on the following distribution:
- Two short essay questions will cover the introduction through agenda,
counting 20 points.
- An essay that explains the Public Policy Cycle will count 32
points.
- The Course Enrichment Component for experiential learning counts 6 points.
- A world sustainability policy report will count 32 points.
- Participation counts 10
points and will be assessed, largely through participation
using the wiki and email. Class discussions of contemporaty
policy issues will be carried out through the wiki.
Detailed memoranda on the course wiki will explain these
assignments well in advance.
Grades will be scaled in the standard fashion: A = 93 and above; A- = 90
to 92; B+ = 87 to 89; B = 83 to 86; B- = 80 to 82; C+ =
77 to 79; C = 73 to 76; C- = 70 to 72; D+ = 67 to 69; D
= 60 to 66; F < 60. I will prorate the grading assignments to conform to these norms.
The timetable of class events is displayed in the course
Schedule web page and will be updated as needed. The rules of academic
integrity set forth in the Student Handbook will be enforced.
Contact Information and Special Needs ^
Stay in touch with me via my Ramapo College email: whayes@ramapo.edu.The course
wiki Bulletin Board will provide ample opportunity for comments and
participation. I will invite the class roster to join the wiki community
shortly before the start of the semester.
Students with special needs should contact me at their earliest
convenience. Reasonable accommodations for special needs will be cheerfully
arranged. Welcome aboard!
The Public Policy Cycle Web Site | ©
Wayne Hayes, Ph.D. | ProfWork | whayes@ramapo.edu
Initialized:
5/22/2001 | Last Update:
05/23/2014
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