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PPOL 805: Bureaucracy and the Policy Process

Spring 2024

Course Overview

Course description

This course examines the role of bureaucracy in the public policy process. Bureaucracies are critical actors in the conceptualization of policy problems, formulating policy solutions, and implementing public policies, whether directly through government or via the market. Public agencies are also the locus of many public policy careers. We will analyze how public agencies and their employees at all levels of government survive and sometimes prosper within an intensely political environment. The course briefly examines the relationship between politics and policy as first developed in public administration as the politics/administration dichotomy, then via the concept of overhead democracy within political science, and finally in contemporary economics and political science via public choice theory and principal agent models. Second, to better understand this transition in approaches to understanding of bureaucracy, the course develops a working model of bureaucratic politics by examining the motivations of relevant actors and their complex political environment(s). And third, this model is employed to examine the enduring problem of political control of the bureaucracy, with emphasis on evaluating a number of alternative and competing institutional strategies designed to enhance control. This first of these strategies is via hierarchy as expressed via principal-agent analysis. After outlining the logic of agency theory, the course looks closely at the relationship between bureaucracy and political executives, legislators, courts, and non-governmental actors. This strategy of controlling bureaucracy in the policy process is then contrasted with three others: limited government, non-bureaucratic provision of services by quasi-markets, and competitive bureaucracy in which agencies are designed to compete with each other. The goals of the course are to become first broadly familiar with the issue of bureaucratic politics and then how this influences each stage of the policy process. Beyond that, the goals include an appreciation of the nature of the bureaucratic control problem and the various strategies designed to address it.

Course objectives

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Analyze how public agencies and their employees at all levels of government work within a governing body to achieve societal order and synergies.

2. Develop a working model of bureaucratic politics by examining the motivations of relevant actors and their complex political environment(s).

3. Describe the roles of administrative discretion and rule-making authority within administrative policymaking.

4. Identify obstacles to effective policy implementation processes.

5. Critically think about and understand the relationship between bureaucracy and political executives, legislators, courts, non-governmental actors, and constituents.

Communication

Email is the preferred method of communication. All email messages must originate from your Penn State email account or Canvas site. Please use a professional salutation, proper spelling and grammar, and patience in waiting for a response and I am the DGS. I do not work on weekends or outside of the 8:00 to 5:00 workday. I will aim to answer all emails within 2 business days of receiving it.

Enrollment Information

Drop/Add

Please visit the Penn State Registrar  website for all add/drop dates https://www.registrar.psu.edu/academic-calendars/2023-24.cfm 

Course Materials

Required materials

Kettl, D. F. (2021). Politics of the administrative process. CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.

Recommended materials

Hummel, R.P. (2008). The Bureaucratic Experience: The Post-Modern Challenge: The Post-Modern Challenge (5th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315700205

Academic Support

Canvas

Some materials needed for this course will be provided online through Canvas. If you have any questions about obtaining or activating your Penn State Access Account, please contact the Penn State Central IT (http://it.psu.edu/get-support).

Library Resources & E-Reserves

Many of the University Libraries' resources can be utilized from a distance. Through the Libraries' website, you can

· access magazine, journal, and newspaper articles online using library databases;

· borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep—or even your desktop;

· get research help via email, chat, or phone using the Ask a Librarian service (https://libraries.psu.edu/ask);

· access Electronic Reserves (E-Reserves); and much more.

You can view the Online Students' Library Guide (http://guides.libraries.psu.edu/onlinestudentlibraryguide) for more information.

Academic Success Resources

The website below includes Penn State tutoring resources, enrollment processes, student engagement and student success programs and student disability resources and more!

https://success.psu.edu/resources

*Also please work collaboratively within the course to help each other succeed!

Course Structure and Conduct

Graduate Level Learning

I am fully committed to helping you succeed in this course. Life is complicated and graduate school is designed to be challenging. Please talk to me if you are feeling behind or having trouble understanding the course material. I will make whatever accommodations I can to help you finish assignments, understand the course material and do well on your final project.

Course Assessment and Grading

Attendance

I expect you to show up to class on time at 12 pm ready to fully participate in this class. If you know ahead of time you will miss a class, inform the instructor beforehand. Attendance on presentation days (see class schedule) is particularly important. If you know you will be absent on any of these days, inform the instructor as soon as possible to reduce the impact on your grade.

Assignments

The graded components in this course include de following assignments: (15) Weekly Reading Chapter Learning Objective Reviews; (4) Homework Assignments (case study analyses); (1) Policy Evaluation Report (the final); and (2) Quizzes. There will be 15 additional points for participation, this is based on your class attendance and participation.   

Assignments are due at the times specified in Canvas. Due dates are subject to revision as the instructor sees fit—any changes will be to the students’ advantage (i.e., assignment deadlines may be extended but not shortened).

Late work is generally not accepted. If you are concerned about completing an assignment in the allotted time, please speak with the instructor prior to the deadline. Accommodations will be made on a case-by-case basis. 

Chapter Learning Objective Reviews, Case Studies, Quizzes

Reading group chapter learning objective review submissions

Participation will be based on reading group chapter learning objective review submissions (75 points) and classroom engagement (15 points) this makes up 36% (90 points) of the total 250 in the class. Students are expected to participate in every class period. Students will be graded on the quality of participation and contribution throughout the semester. Students should provide insightful dialogue based on the readings. Students may discuss personal experiences as it relates to the readings, however, the majority of the discussion should be grounded in the text. We will also draw upon current events and pop culture as it relates to the class. Students are expected to take a proactive stance with respect to class contribution. While the instructor may sometimes use cold calling, students should not expect this to be sufficient for opportunities to make substantive contributions.

Homework (Case Studies)

There will be 4 homework assignments in the form of case study analyses. These assignments will allow you to practice and apply concepts from each of the course units/parts and to hone your analysis skills (20 points each). This will account for 32% (80 points) of the total 250 points.

Assignments will be graded in accordance with a rubric for each assignment. The rubrics are displayed in Canvas under each assignment. Comments will be made on the assignment and under each section of the rubric. 

Quizzes

This course will consist of 2 quizzes that are 15 questions each. Each question will be worth 1 point totaling each quiz to be a 15-point quiz with a combined quiz average total to be 12% (30 points) of the total 250 points. The questions will consist of vocabulary and concept questions from the previous chapters. Quiz 1 (Chapters 1-7) and Quiz 2 (8-15). Quizzes will be on Canvas and open for the assigned week, open book/note, three attempts will be given for each quiz.

Final Report

The final assessment of this course consists of a final paper. This paper will provoke you to crucially think about what the Bureaucratic process is in the United States, it will consist of a template with prompted sections to outline the paper (50 points).

The final report should be no less than 10 pages and no more than 20, typed double spaced, 12-point font, 1” margins. The reference list, charts, tables, appendices, and other non-text supplemental materials do not count toward the minimum page requirement. The report must be submitted on Canvas, no later than Monday, 11:59PM on the final week of classes. No late submissions will be accepted. Detailed explanation of the requirements of the policy evaluation report are available on Canvas.

Assignments and Point Break Down 

Grading Scale