HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Public Policy-Cadets to the Civil Service

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Dr. Sharon Gilad

Coordinator Email: gilads (at) mscc.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Weds 16:30 to 17:30

Teaching Staff:
Dr. Sharon Gilad

Course/Module description:
This course will provide students with theoretical tools to analyze the public policy process. During the course we will analyze the stages of the policy process, the political contexts influencing policy making, and the factors contributing to stability and change in policy.

Course/Module aims:
The main objective of this course is to give students theoretical and conceptual tools to understand and analyze the process through which public policy is formed, institutionalized and changed

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
Define central terms in the literature on the policy process and institutional theory
Identify the main stages of the policy process and the forces influencing each stage
Outline the main influences on policy change and stability
Compare different theoretical approaches to policy change
Demonstrate how different theoretical approaches explain a case of policy change

Attendance requirements(%):
Students must attend at least 80% of classes

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Whole-class lecture and small-group discussion of case studies

Course/Module Content:
I Undermining the assumptions underlying the rational-bureaucratic public-policy process model
1. Introducing the course
2. Introduction to decision making under bounded rationality
3.Shaping policy under uncertainty
4. How do problems move up and down the agenda? – the garbage can model (*)
5. Limited attention and the punctuated-equilibrium model (*)

II The politics of the policy process
6. The a-symmetrical participation of interest groups (*)
7. Public opinion and public policy (*)
8. Public policy and the media (*)
9. Changes in the party politics landscape and their influence on policy (*)

III Institutional models of policy change and stability
10. What makes policy difficult to change? (*)
11. Strategies for policy change (*)
12. Ideas and institutional change (*)
13. Conclusions and discussion

Required Reading:
2. ד. דרעי, 1996. יסודות המנהל הציבורי, האוניברסיטה העברית, 169- 201.
3. Hall, Peter. 1993. Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: the Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics 25(3): 275-296.
4. Kingdon, J. 1995. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy. 2d edition (Boston: LittleBrown), Chapters 1 and 8.
5. Jones, BD and Baumgartner, FR. 2005 The Politics of Attention: How Government Prioritizes Problems (Chicago: University of Chicago Press), chapter 3
6. Baumgartner, FR and Leech, BL. 2001. “Interest Niches and Policy Bandwagons: Patterns of Interest Group Involvement in National Politics” Journal of Politics, 63:1191-1213
7. Page, B.I., and R.Y. Shapiro. 1983. "Effects of Public Opinion on Policy." American Political Science Review 77: 175-190.
8. Walgrave, S, Soroka, S and Nuytemans, M. 2008. ‘The Mass Media’s Political Agenda-setting power’ Comparative Political Studies, 41: 814-36.
Green-Pedersen, C., and R. Stubager. 2010. "The Political Conditionality of Mass Media Influence: When Do Parties Follow Mass Media Attention?" British Journal of Political Science 40: 663-77.
9. Imbeau, LM, Pétry F and Lamari, M. 2001. Party Ideology and Government Policies: A Meta-Analysis European Journal of Political Research 40: 1-29.
10. Pierson, P. 2006. "The New Politics of the Welfare State." Polity Press, Conclusion.
11. Mahoney J. and K. Thelen. 2010. Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 1
12. Béland, D., & Cox, R. H. (Eds.). (2010). Ideas and politics in social science research. Oxford University Press, Introduction.
Cox, R. H., & Béland, D. (2013). Valence, policy ideas, and the rise of sustainability. Governance, 26(2), 307-328.

Additional Reading Material:
3. Blyth. 2013. Paradigms and Paradox: The Politics of Economic Ideas in Two Moments of Crisis, Governance, 26(2): 197-215.
5. Baumgartner, Frank R., Christian Breunig, Christoffer Green Pedersen, Bryan D. Jones, Peter B. Mortensen, Michiel Nuytemans, and Stefaan Walgrave. 2009. "Punctuated Equilibrium in Comparative Perspective." American Journal of Political Science 53: 603-20
6. Binderkrantz A.S, P.M. Christiansen and H.H Pedersen (2014). “A Privileged Position? The Influence of Business Interests in Government Consultations.” Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24: 879-896.
Baumgartner Frank R, Jeffrey M Berry, Marie Hojnacki, David C. Kimball and Beth L. Leech. 2009. Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who loses and Why. The University of Chicago Press, Ch. 10.
7. Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics.
10. Hall, P. A. and R. C. R. Taylor (1996). "Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms." Political Studies 44(5): 936-957.

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 80 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 20 %

Additional information:
Mandatory weekly reading includes up to two articles / chapters

20% of the final grade is based on a student led discussion during one of the classes marked by an Asterisk (*)

The TA in this course is Hanan Haber (PHD candidate)
Office hours: Mon, 1800-1900, room 1725 (Public Policy)
hanan.haber (at) mail.huji.ac.il