GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

         THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY

Course Title: PUBP 730  -- U.S. National Policy Systems

Semester: Fall 2001 – Tuesday 4:30-7:00

Professor:    Dr. Susan J. Tolchin
                   Professor of Public Policy
                   Finley 213
                   Phone: (703) 993-4035
                   Fax: (703) 993-2284
                   E-Mail: tolchin@gmu.edu

                    “Discipali Victoria, Gloria Magister”

 (Translation : “The advancement of the student is the glory of the professor.”)  From Epistle 194 of Benedict Gerbertus, a Benedictine monk who became the first French pope, Pope Sylvester II, who reigned from 999-1003 A.D.)

Course description:  An examination of the policy environment of the U.S. Federal system, revolving around the institutions of governance, pressures and issues that are of critical importance in today’s world.  Special emphasis will be given to the political realities of governing, the unique character of the American system, and how new forces – like the Internet – have impacted on a system that was designed over 200 years ago for a very different world.

Course requirements: 1)- A research paper that takes one policy from its inception to a final stage, focusing on how one specific institution has impacted on the shape of that policy – i.e., one committee or subcommittee  of Congress, the President, an agency, an interest group. The papers are due on the last day of class, December 4; 2)- A mid-semester assignment to be announced in class, and due on October 30; and 3)- A final examination on a date to be announced in class.

Texts:

 Congressional Quarterly. How Congress Works. 3rd Edition.  Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998.

 Mark Allen Eisner. Regulatory Politics in Transition. Baltimore:  Johns Hopkins Press, 1993.

 Henry Kissinger. Does America Need a Foreign Policy? Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2001.

Burdett Loomis. The Contemporary Congress. 3rd Edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000 (paperback edition)

 James P. Pfiffner, The Modern Presidency. 3rd Edition. New York:  St. Martin’s Press, 2000 (paperback edition).

  Cass Sunstein. republic.com. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

  Susan J. Tolchin. The Angry American – How Voter Rage is
  Changing the Nation. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2nd
  Edition, 1998.

I – August 28 - INTRODUCTION

II – September 4 – THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

  *Evolution
  *Turf
  *Environment and Context

  Readings:

  Pfiffner, Chs. 1-4.

III – September 11 – THE MODERN PRESIDENCY

  *Cabinet Government
  *Executive Politics
  *National Security

IV – September 18  (date to be changed because of the Rosh Hashana holiday)  -- THE WHITE HOUSE AND FOREIGN POLICY IN THE POSTWAR ERA

  *The Response to Globalization
  *The New Role of the Military in Peacekeeping Operations
  *Multilateral Agreements

  Readings:

  Kissinger, Chs. 1-4.

V – September 25  -- FOREIGN POLICY (Continued)

  Readings:

  Kissinger, Chs. 5-7.

VI – October 2 – THE REGULATORY SYSTEM

  *Regulatory Reform
  *Social and Economic Regulation
  *The Role of the White House

  Readings:

  Eisner, Chs. 1-4

VII – October 16  -- REGULATING RISK

  *Environmental politics
  *Externalities
  *Risk/benefit analysis

  Readings:

  Eisner, Chs. 5-7.

VIII – October 23 (MIDSEMESTER ASSIGNMENT)

IX – October 30  -- DIVIDED GOVERNMENT

  *Congress and the White House at War
  *The Effect of Interest Groups
  *The Political Environment
  *The House vs. the Senate

  Readings:

  Loomis, Chs. 1-4, 8.

X – November 6 – HOW CONGRESS WORKS

  *The Committee System
  *The Role of the Speaker
  *Mark-ups, conferences, and negotiation

  Readings:

  Congressional Quarterly.

XI – November 13– LEGISLATIVE POLICY MAKING

  *Party discipline
  *How a Bill is Passed

  Readings:

  Loomis, Chs. 5-7, 9-10

XII – November 20 --  THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS

  Readings:

  Sunstein.

XIII – November 27 – VOTER APATHY, POLITICAL ANGER, CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, ETHICS AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF GOVERNANCE

   Readings:

   Tolchin.

XIV – December 4   -- PAPER PRESENTATIONS