Course description and goals: Policy analysis is about making effective choices in a complex world. The question though is how policy analysis, largely based on rational decision-making, really helps decision-makers in their non-rational, disorderly world. We will try to answer this question along with other questions about how public managers use (or perhaps do not use) policy analysis in their decision-making.

The primary goal of the class is to help you understand the use of policy analysis in the complex world of public management. We will explore why policy analysis often runs on two separate tracks. One track is the rational, positivist, quantitative track that has dominated the field. To help us understand this part of policy analysis we will use Patton and Sawicki’s Basic Methods of Policy Analysis and Planning, 3rd edition. The second track is the non-rational, post positivist, and qualitative approach that argues subjective influences like values and politics are inevitable and necessary for the process of democratic decision-making to work. To help understand this track, we will use Deborah Stone’s Policy Paradox, 2002 edition.

Course Format: I’ve divided the course in several ways. First, we will learn about and discuss the positivist and post-positivist view of policy analysis. As I said above, two of the texts for the course reflect the two tracks of policy analysis. The book by Patton and Sawicki is an excellent book used in policy analysis courses that emphasizes a quantitative approach. Because we will also study how subjective influences affect policy analysis we will read what has become one of the “gold-plated” texts in the policy sciences, Stone’s The Policy Paradox. There is a third book that we will also read; Robert Putnam’s Better Together: Restoring the American Community.

The course is a combination of lectures and discussions. I will encourage discussion of the topics we will cover, but there will be times when I will use a lecture format to introduce a subject that may be new to you.

Lastly, and perhaps most noteworthy, the course is divided between concept and practice. We will learn about and discuss the concepts of policy analysis. We will take those concepts and apply them to a specific policy implemented by the city of Hartford. I will briefly explain this policy in the next section and in detail in our first class.

The policy analysis case: The City of Hartford and neighborhood civic associations use a variety of public policies to revitalize neighborhoods. We will analyze those policies and their impact on one particular neighborhood, the Blue Hills neighborhood.

We will take the concepts, notions, and theories read and discussed in class and apply them to the policies the city and neighborhood civic groups use in the Blue Hills neighborhood. Ultimately, you will write an analysis of the policies as part of the class requirements. To help you write the analysis I will introduce you to the key actors who developed the policies, live and work in the Blue Hills neighborhood. We will travel to Hartford City Hall and to the neighborhood to meet and discuss the roles the key people have in revitalizing the Blue Hills neighborhood. You will have access to the information used by the decision makers who developed and are implementing the policies.

Your assignment is to become the policy analyst who determines if the policies used by the city and civic groups are effective in achieving the goals of the policies.

Textbooks: Deborah Stone, Policy Paradox, Norton, 2002,

Carl Patton and David Sawicki, Basic Methods of Policy Analysis, Prentice Hall,1993 (or the later edition if available)

Robert Putnam, Better Together: Restoring the American Community, Simon & Schuster, 2003

Course requirements and how grades will be determined: My expectations of you are high and thus the requirements of this class are demanding. My expectations are you must be fully prepared for every class. You will be engaged in every class because much of our class will be spent discussing the conceptual and practical aspects of policy analysis. In addition, I expect that you will work in a highly collaborative way with your class colleagues.

Your grade will be based on:

§ Writing a policy analysis of the policies developed and used by the city and neighborhood civic groups to revitalize the Blue Hills neighborhood. For graduate students the policy analysis must be a minimum length of twenty-five pages.

The policy analysis will be seventy-five percent of your final grade.

§ Writing three discussion papers of the policy analysis case. The first discussion paper will be “what are the goals of policies”? The second discussion paper will be on “what are the problems that initiated the policies”? The third discussion paper will be on “are these the most effective policies to fix the problem(s)”?

For graduate students each discussion paper must be a minimum of five pages.

The discussion papers will count fifteen percent of the final grade.

§ Class participation: Suffice it to say your participation is essential for learning and for a successful class. Classes will be a mix of lectures and discussions with an emphasis on engaging you in all aspects of the topic. Participation will count ten percent of the final grade.

Date

Topic

Readings for the class of:

September 7th

Introduction to the class, and to the policy analysis case

none

September 14th

The policy analysis case: Analyzing city policies used to enhance and   revitalize the Blue Hills neighborhood

Putnam, Better Together (entire book)

Putnam, Bowling Alone, J.of Democracy, Jan. 1995, pp. 65-78

Hartford 2000 website, Blue Hills NRZ Plan

September 21st

The policy analysis case: Tonight’s class will be a tour of the neighborhood.

Departure information to be provided.

September 28th

1.       Tonight’s class will join the Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ) meeting which begins at 6:00pm, location to be provided.



October 5th

Tonight’s class will cover two topics:

1.       the role of policy analysis in the broader policy-making process

2.       review the policy analysis case

Patton and Sawicki, Basic Methods, pp 1-113;

Stone, Policy Paradox, pp 1-34

October 12th

NO CLASS

October 19th

Tonight’s class will cover two topics:

1.   identifying, gathering, and

      analyzing data

2.       review of the policy analysis

case to date

Tonight’s class will meet in the city of Hartford’s planning department, 250 Constitution Plaza. Class will begin at 6:00p.m.

Patton and Sawicki, Basic Methods, pp. 113 – 146

October 26th

Tonight’s class will cover two topics:

1.       market failure and government’s

role

2.       review of the policy analysis

case to date

Patton and Sawicki, Basic Methods, pp.186 – 226

November 2nd

The policy analysis case: we will discuss with a senior city official the city’s policies regarding the Blue Hills neighborhood. Class will take place in Hartford City Hall. Room and time to be announced.

November 9th

Defining goals and selecting criteria to help conduct policy analysis

Stone, Policy Paradox, pp. 35 – 130

1^st discussion paper due

November 16th

Understanding problems and identifying causes of the problems

Stone, Policy Paradox, pp. 131 - 258

Patton and Sawicki, Basic Methods, pp. 147 – 185

2^nd discussion paper due

November 23rd

Thanksgiving

November 30th

Formulating effective policies

Stone, Policy Paradox, pp. 259 – 383

Patton and Sawicki, Basic Methods, pp. 227 – 397

Putnam, Better Together, all

3^rd discussion paper due

December 7th

The policy analysis case: presentation of class findings