GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
 
 

THE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY



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

Semester: Fall 2002 – Monday 4:30-7:00 

Arlington, 246

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.)

Plagiarism: All work must be your own. Inappropriate use of the work of others without attribution is plagiarism and a George Mason University Honor Code violation punishable by expulsion from the university. All students should familiarize themselves with this honor code provision (http://www.gmu.edu/facstaff/handbook/aD.html). To guard against plagiarism and to treat students equitably, written work may be checked against existing published materials or digital data bases available through various plagiarism detection services. Accordingly, materials submitted to all courses must be available in electronic format. 

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 subcommitteeof Congress, the President, an agency, an interest group. The papers are due on the last day of class, December 2; 2)- A mid-semester assignment to be announced in class early in the semester, and will be due on November 4. There will be no class on October 28, to give students the time to do the field work necessary to complete the assignment; and 3)- A take-home final examination distributed on December 2, and due 48 hours later.

Texts:

Congressional Quarterly. How Congress Works. 3rd Edition. 

Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998. 

Clark, Wesley K. Waging Modern War: Bosnia, Kosovo,

and the Future of Combat.New York: Public Affairs Press,

2002, paperback.

Mark Allen Eisner. Regulatory Politics in Transition. Baltimore: 

Johns Hopkins Press, 1993. 

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).

Susan J. Tolchin. The Angry American – How Voter Rage is 

Changing the Nation. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2nd

Edition, 1998.

Class Sessions

I – August 26 - INTRODUCTION

II – September 9 – THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH

*Evolution

*Turf

*Environment and Context

Readings:

Pfiffner, Chs. 1-4. 

(September 16 is the Yom Kippur holiday. There will be no class.

We’ll make up the time later in the semester at a mutually

convenient time.) 

III – September 23– THE MODERN PRESIDENCY

*Cabinet Government

*Executive Politics

*National Security

Readings:

Pfiffner, Chs. 5-8.

IV – September 30 – 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:

Clark, Wesley, Waging Modern War: Bosnia, 

Kosovo and the Future of Combat, TBA.

V – October 7 – FOREIGN POLICY (Continued)

Readings:

Clark, TBA.

(October 14 – No class because of the Columbus Day holiday.

Monday classes will be held on Tuesday)

VI – October 15 – THE REGULATORY SYSTEM

*Regulatory Reform

*Social and Economic Regulation

*The Role of the White House 

Readings:

Eisner, Chs. 1-4

VII – October 21 -- REGULATING RISK

*Environmental politics

*Externalities

*Risk/benefit analysis

Readings:

Eisner, Chs. 5-7.

VIII – October 28(MIDSEMESTER ASSIGNMENT)

IX – November 4 – DIVIDED GOVERNMENT

(midterm assignments due) 

*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 11 – HOW CONGRESS WORKS

*The Committee System

*The Role of the Speaker

*Mark-ups, conferences, and negotiation

Readings:

Congressional Quarterly. 

XI – November 18 – LEGISLATIVE POLICY MAKING

*Party discipline

*How a Bill is Passed

Readings:

Loomis, Chs. 5-7, 9-10

XII – November 25 – THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET AND 

COMMUNICATIONS POLICY IN 

 GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS

Readings: (to be divided among class groups)

Reed A. Hundt. You Say You Want a Revolution: A Story

of Information Age Politics. Yale University Press, 2000.

Joseph Migga Kizza. Civilizing the Internet – Global 

Concerns and Efforts Toward Regulation. McFarland

& Company, 1998.

Nancy Morris and Silvio Waisbord, eds.Media and 

Globalization – Why the State Matters, Roman &

Littlefield, 2001.

Andrew L. Shapiro. The Control Revolution – How the 

Internet is Putting Individuals in Charge of the World

We Know. Century Foundation/Public Affairs Press,

1999. 

Imo Vogelsang and Benjamin M. Compaine, eds., 

The Internet Upheaval – Raising Questions, Seeking

Answers in Communications Policy. MIT Press, 2000.

XIII – December 2 – VOTER APATHY, POLITICAL ANGER,

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, ETHICS

AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF GOVERNANCE

(Papers due. Also: Take home final: due in 48 hrs.)

Readings:

Tolchin. 

XIV – Make-up Session (date to be determined) – PAPER 

PRESENTATIONS