Department of Political Science

Course Information

POLITICS 856 - Issues in Social and Economic Policy

Special Notices

January 17, 1996 - A revised course outline and schedule can now be found by clicking on the syllabus hotlink below. To access the old course syllabus click on this.

January 13, 1996 - A basic template for a personal homepage has been set up and can be downloaded from here (use "view source" in NETSCAPE). To set up your own homepage in your UNIX account, you must (1) create a folder called "pub_html" and permit it by issuing the command "chmod 755 pub_html", (2) download the template file and upload it to your pub_html folder, renaming the template file as "index.htm". This file should be permitted by issuing the command "chmod 644 index.htm", (3) Edit the template to insert your personal information, course readings etc. For further detailed information and instructions see the materials on WEB publishing maintained by Academic Computing Services.

To Access the homepages for Class Members, click on the relevant name below:

Russell Lapointe
Andrew McLeod
Minh Ngo
Paula Rodriguez
Daniel Rubenson

January 1, 1996 - A new styleguide for citations of electronic source material is available below or by clicking on this .

January 1, 1996 - The SFU Library Catalogue is now accessible using the WEB and a forms-based reader such as NETSCAPE. Click on this for access to the library "KIOSK" homepage.

In 96-1 this course is being taught by Professor Michael Howlett, AQ 6043 291-3082, email howlett@sfu.ca Office Hours: Thursday 1:30-2:30

Class Time: Tuesday 2:30-5:30 and other times as needed.
Class Location: Political Science Meeting Room

Outline:

NOTE: This outline is also available through the World Wide Web at URL:"http://www.sfu.ca/politics/courses.html".

This course examines contemporay theory and practice in several areas of Canadian public life. Policy fields are selected by students and a combination of classroom and electronic discussion centers around policy issues, instruments and actors present in each field and the lessons which can be learned about researching Canadian policy-making from their examination.

Required Texts

Michael Howlett and M. Ramesh, Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1995)

Recommended Texts

Frank Baumgartner and Bryan Jones, Agendas and Instability in American Politics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993)

Bernd Marin and Renate Mayntz, ed. Policy Networks: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Considerations. (Boulder: Westview Press, 1991).

Atkinson, M. and W. Coleman. The State, Business, and Industrial Change in Canada. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989).

Lester M. Salamon, Beyond Privatization: The Tools of Government Action (Washington D.C.: The Urban Institute Press, 1989).

Paul A. Sabatier and Hank C. Jenkins-Smith eds. Policy Change and Policy Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach (Boulder: Westview Press,1993).

Requirements and Marking:

1. Three 10-15 pages papers are due at various points during the term and a final summary paper at term end. Each paper is worth 20 percent of the class mark. LATE PAPERS WILL RECEIVE A ZERO GRADE.

2. Each paper will be presented in class. Papers must be posted one week prior to class to the student's WWW homepage and/or to the class newsgroup (sfu.class.pol.pol856). Preliminary responses to these paperswill be posted to the newgroup and class discussion should respond to these comments.

3. Class participation. Attendance and discussion in seminars and posting of comments to the newgroup is worth 20 percent of the course mark. Each student should maintain a personal WWW homepage with relevant bibliographical information and post suggestions for readings on paper topics to the class newsgroup.

Paper Topics:

At the beginning of the term, each student must choose a policy area or field of research. Papers due during the course will examine:

(1) The major substantive or procedural issue or issues now occupying the attention of policy-makers in the field. The paper should address the manner in which these issues have arisen and relate this experience to theories of public policy agenda-setting. of research. Papers due during the course will examine (1) The major substantive

(2) The experience of Canadian governments with policy instrument use in the sector or field concerned. Papers should describe the instrument or mix of instruments used in the field and assess their strengths and weaknesses. Consideration of alternative means of policy implementation should be informed by theoretical discussions of the rationales for instrument choice.

(3) The nature and configuration of predominant actors in the policy field. The manner in which existing actors interact and the potential for the presence of new actors in policy subsystems whoucl be analyzed in the light of existing concepts of policy subsystems.

The final paper due at the end of the term should summarize the comments and evaluations of each paper and suggest future areas for research and potential future research design.

FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR COURSE RELATED MATERIAL:

POL-856 Course Syllabus (96-1) - revised