PS 512 – Seminar in American Institutions:

Bureaucratic Politics and Environmental Policy

Tuesday 5:45-8:30 Mark Stephan

MMC 23 Office Hours: Th 1-3

Fall 2006 546-9467

stephanm@vancouver.wsu.edu             Office: MMC 202U

Course Description

This course will provide students with both a broad review of bureaucratic politics and a detailed look at the role of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in public policy. Topics to be covered include the powers and constraints of public agencies, management issues within agencies, the history of the EPA as an institution, and the EPA’s relationship with key political actors such as the Congress and the President. The course will also look at the key issues currently facing the agency.

The semester will be divided into three sections. First, we will talk about bureaucratic politics – laying out both theory and empirical research. Second, for a couple of weeks we will lay out the foundations of the EPA and its role in environmental policy. Finally, we will talk about the EPA in detail – focusing on both policy issues and institutional concerns.

Course Texts

There are four required texts for this course. All four texts should be available at student stores. The core texts for the course will be as follows:

Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It (by James Q. Wilson)

Making Environmental Policy (by Daniel Fiorino)

Environmental Governance Reconsidered: Challenges, Choices, and Opportunities (edited by Robert Durant, Daniel Fiorino, and Rosemary O’Leary)

The Ethics of Dissent by Rosemary O’Leary

Structure of Grading

Your grades will be determined by a take-home midterm exam (25%), two short papers (15% each), a class presentation (10%), and a research paper (35%).

Exam

There will be a midterm exam given out on September 18^th, at noon. It will be due September 22^nd, by 5:00 PM. The exam will be essay driven.

Papers

Each student will be required to complete two 5-6 page short papers. The papers will be due October 17^th at the beginning of class and December 12^th, at noon. Students will write papers on topics assigned by the professor in coming weeks. One of the papers will involve reacting to one of the readings in the course, while the other may involve some supplemental reading. Students will also have a longer paper (15-20 pages) due November 14^th, at noon. The research paper will involve a close analysis of a public agency using ideas gleaned from class discussion, the readings, and from your independent review of the relevant literature. Each student will be required to give a brief presentation about their paper on November 28^th. You will be given more specific information about paper formats and content as the semester progresses.

Attendance in Class

Because of the size of the class it will be unnecessary to take attendance in any formal sense – it will be easy to see who is there and who is not. Your regular and timely attendance is crucial to your success in the course and to the success of the course overall. Please do not miss class unless it is absolutely necessary (and I do mean absolutely necessary) and speak with me beforehand if at all possible. Missing one will not affect your grade. Missing two classes will hurt your participation grade. Missing more than two class meetings may jeopardize your entire grade.

Disability Notice

Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability.  Please notify me during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course.  Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to be unavailable.  Students needing accommodations must have them approved through the Assistant Director of Student Development (MMC 24, 546-9567).

Office Availability

I will make every effort to meet with students during my office hours and by appointment. Feel free to talk with me about readings, papers, or about the class in general.

Semester Schedule

Please bear in mind that we may fall behind the following schedule in terms of class discussion: however, I expect all students to keep up with the reading on this schedule unless otherwise advised by me. Readings are to be read by the day assigned. “Selected readings” will be made available at least one week in advance, either in electronic or hard copy format. Additional readings may be assigned as appropriate.

August 22^th – Introduction to Bureaucratic Politics

August 29^th – Operators

Wilson, Preface and Chapters 1-6

September 5^th – Managers and Executives

Wilson, Chapters 7-12

September 12^th – Institutions

Wilson, Chapters 13-16

September 19^th – Constraints and Opportunities

Wilson, Chapters 17-20

September 26^th – Managing Dissent

O’Leary, Entire book

October 3^rd – The History of the EPA

Fiorino, Preface and Chapters 1-2

Durant, Introduction

Selected Readings

October 10^th – Constraints on the EPA

Fiorino, Chapters 3-4

Selected Readings

October 17^th – Policymaking within the EPA

Fiorino, Chapters 5-6

Selected Readings

(First Brief Paper due)

October 24^th – Institutional Priorities, Policy Priorities

Durant, Section I, pages 29-176

October 31^st – Citizens and Experts

Durant, Section II, pages 177-354

November 7^th – Constraints Continued

Durant, Section III, pages 355-482

November 14^th – TBA

Selected Readings

(Research Paper due)

November 28^th – Presentations

Fiorino, Chapter 7

Durant, Conclusion

December 5^th – Conclusion