Pol 851/893 Public Policy Studies (Directed Reading)
05-1

January 20, 2005

Revised Assignment List

Grading Scheme

The course will have four assignments on readings, each worth 10%. A paper outline is worth 10% while a 25 page term paper is worth 50% of the course mark. 
Assignments are to be presented in class on the dates specified below. A 3-5 page précis is to be e-mailed to the class members (wet@sfu.ca, byaeck@sfu.ca, howlett@sfu.ca) by 5:00 pm on the Monday of the week the presentation is due. 
The term paper outline is due by e-mail no later than March 1. The paper is due no later than April 20th.

Assignments

1.	February 2 - Calibrating Background Concepts and Readings

Brian (Policy Subsystems) – McCool and Burstein on what is a policy subsystem + Knoke and Milward on why this is an important concept for policy studies

Wendy (Policy Cycles) – Fremont and Howlett on what is a policy cycle + DeLeon and Sabatier on strengths and weaknesses of this model of the policy process

2.	February 23 – The Policy Cycle

Brian (Agenda-Setting) – Kingdon on theory + Howlett on operationalization

Wendy (Decision-Making) – Cohen, March and Olsen on theory + Bender (and Olsen rejoinder) on operationalization

3.	March 9 – Macrovariables (1) 

Brian (Institutions) – Mahoney on theory + Pierson on Operationalization

Wendy (Ideas) – Hall on theory + Howlett and Coleman on Operationalization

4.	March 30 – MacroVariables (2)

Brian (Actors) – Heclo on theory + Laumann and Knoke on Operationalization (or Raab/McGregor)

Wendy (Styles) – Kagan on theory + Kagan x 2 on US and Europe