Contents:

Course Description

Prerequisites

Grading Policy

Required Readings

Other Items
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Instructor: Prof. Thomas Leschine
Office: MAR 109
Office Hours: By Appointment
e-mail: tml@u.washington.edu
Phone: 206 543-0117

Class Meeting Times and Location:
M,W 11:30-12:50 am (3 cr.)
MAR 268

Public Policy Analysis

 In government, the most commanding positions are reserved for people who make policy.  The formal analysis of public policy is a task to which many public servants aspire.  Few activities are as challenging as the design of public policies.

 This course seeks to provide students with both a conceptual framework and practical experience in analyzing public policies, in the specific context of marine and environmental policy.  A secondary goal is to understand real-world policymaking and how it accommodates policy analysis.  Students will read about, discuss and work through the processes of defining policy problems and objectives, devising alternative policy “solutions”, predicting and evaluating their impacts, and attending to considerations of authoritative adoption and successful implementation.  They will also read about and discuss the demands and expectations of the governmental policymaking system that affect the work of the policy analyst.  An effort will be made to impart craft skills as well as conceptual knowledge in the analytical domain.

 The centerpiece of the course is an independent policy analysis to be completed by all students.  This analysis will encompass all of the elements cited above and will be prepared in such a fashion as to be useful to a real-world client.

 Policy analysis requires several distinct sets of skills.  These include the ability to frame a problem in a manner amenable to analysis, technical understanding of analytic tools, appreciation of political and implementation considerations, and the ability to produce and present a useful analysis to your client.  In addition, analysts need to understand why government policies exist and why policies succeed and fail.  The course will cover all of these factors, with particular attention to production and presentation skills.

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Prerequisites

You should have completed SMA 536 (Introduction to Microeconomics) or equivalent.  Students who have waived this course are assumed to have adequate background.  Taking a concurrent economics class will be very helpful.
 

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Grading Policy

Course grades will be based on memo #1B (20%), memo #2 (20%), memo #3 (35%), the oral presentation (15%), and class participation (10%).
 

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Required Readings

The required texts are:

David L. Weimer and Aidan R. Vining, [W&V] Policy Analysis:  Concepts and Practice, 3rd ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice-Hall, 1999).

Eugene Bardach, A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis.  The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving (New York: Chatham House Publishers, 2000).

They are available at the University Bookstore.

In addition, a number of supplementary materials will be made available for your use.  Where possible, these will be made available electronically through the UW Library Course Reserves.   Paper copies of some items will be placed outside the professor’s office.  Materials will be made available as the quarter progresses.
 

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Other Items
 
 

 Last Updated:
 01/05/04