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Page history last edited by Professor Wayne Hayes 10 years, 3 months ago

Public Policy Bulletin Board 

Summer Session I 2014: ENST20750 #30213

Edition #7: 6/25/2014

 We conclude our summer online course on Public Policy next Monday, June 30. Please note that these two assignments are due shortly:

 

1. The experiential learning log contributes the Course Enrichment Component to ENST20750. The log counts as six points toward your grade and is due by the end of June 26, 2014.

 

2. The essay on public policy for sustainability counts 32 points, based on depth and content. The paper is due by the end of the day on June 30.

 

Since my turn-around time for grading is especially short for a summer semester course, I must insist that the final work products be submitted by the end of the day on Monday, June 30. Consider this a firm deadline that must be respected.

 

I will be available for consultation tomorrow, Thursday June 26, by email or by phone from 10:00 A.M. until 1:30 P.M. Please call me on my home office phone, 908-272-5234.

 

Edition #6: 6/14/2014

Your next paper demonstrates your ability to explain the Public Policy Cycle and is due on the end of the day on June 16. See the assignment. Respond directly to  the assignment by staying on task. Proofread your results and look for ways to provide conceptual development and enhance content. That is, focus on depth and content.

 

I have updated the activities and assignments for weeks four and five:  sustainability policy. The topics presented in the final section of Public Policy address a curricular goal of the School of Social Science and Human Services Core Curriculum: present sustainability.

 

As you work through the assignments posted in the schedule and as you study World on the Edge, keep in mind your response to the final paper for our course: Compose a broad policy to achieve global sustainability based on the material presented in ENST207. Try to address aspects of the Public Policy Cycle as you formulate your response.

  

Edition #5: 6/2/2014

The first report is due by the end of the day tomorrow. 

 

Case Study in Policy Formulation: President Obama's Carbon Plan

As we shift to policy formulation, I identify a specific public policy upon which to focus. This time, the choice is obvious. Start with today's New York Times: "Unveiling New Carbon Plan, E.P.A. Focuses on Flexibility," by Coral Davenport. The Vox website provides in-depth analysis to help unravel the complexities of this proposed rule. Study it to gain perspective.

 

Although the policy appears on the rule-making (micro) agenda of the Environmental Protection Administration, the significance makes this a macro-agenda item now squarely on the agenda and in process of formulation. See how this unfolds. This is a big deal and will be vigorously contested. This energy-related policy is ideal for our course.

 

Edition #4: 5/29/2014

Pay attention to a critical policy regulation disclosed yesterday by President Obama: Proposed regulation to limit the amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted by power plants --- a blow to the coal industry. The New York Times report states:

 

"WASHINGTON — President Obama will use his executive authority to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s coal-fired power plants by up to 20 percent, according to people familiar with his plans, and will force industry to pay for the pollution it creates through cap-and-trade programs across the country." (The highlights are mine.)

 

Expect an epic battle over the proposed regulations.


I continue to edit pages from the course web site, making only minor changes. The edited pages today are:

  1. Definitions of Public Policy: Simple and Explanatory;
  2. How to Study Public Policy
  3. Public Policy as a Method;
  4. Introduction to the Agenda;
  5. Agenda-Setting
  6. Simple Agenda;.
  7. Systematic Agenda
  8. Agenda Typology
  9. How Is the Agenda Set? 
  10. How to Study the Agenda;
  11. Bias and Power in Agenda-Setting;
  12. Cases in Agenda-Setting 

 

Edition #3.1: 5/28/2014

I list recent cases below to illustrate agenda-setting in public policy:

  1. In a prominent speech at West Point, President Obama laid out a new path in foreign policy. View the short video.
  2. Inequality has risen to the systemic agenda. Notice how prominent inequality has become in President Obama's social policy, centered on opportunity for all. 
  3. Mark Bittman, food columnist for the New York Times, calls attention to a policy champion, Olivier de Schutter, who is trying to shift the global food agenda from the industrial agricultural model of "productivism" to localized agro-ecology. Notice how de Schutter attempts to change the discourse around food, a linguistic re-framing often used in agenda-setting. See the video on de Schutter's web page. See also his article on the right to food

 

Examine these recent articles for a concrete recognition of how agenda-setting proceeds. Be able to identify agenda-setting whey you see it. Ask: Where is this coming from? Is there a hidden agenda? Will this clear the gatekeepers and move to policy formulation? Learn the language of public policy. 

 

I offer this optional advanced article for the serious student: A scholarly use of the analytical tools of agenda-setting can be found involving the Iraq War, which provides a case of using the levers of media to promote a systemic agenda item. Michael J. Mazarr, from the U.S. National War College, has contributed an article that uses the tools of agenda-setting to promote the war: The Iraq War and Agenda Setting, Foreign Policy Analysis (2007) 3, 1–23. 

 

A curricular role of Public Policy focuses on sustainability. I provide examples of agenda setting, including the larger context of sustainability, on our course web site.


The following pages have received minor editing:

  1. Malthus: The Dismal Science;
  2. The Limits of Public Policy;
  3. Ideologies: Liberal and Conservative
  4. Why Study Public Policy
  5. The Scope of Public Policy
  6. Approaches to Public Policy

 

Edition #2: 5/27/2014

I have sent around an email with a bunch of questions, so please take the time to respond by the end of the day.

 

I also added a brief Preface to explain where this web site came from, why I use it, and where it is going. Try your hand at making a comment on the bottom of the page. That is the feedback that I seek from using this wiki. You have been invited to join my wiki, so please sign up now.

 

Edition #1: 5/23/2014

Welcome! We formally initiate our summer session I online version of Public Policy on Tuesday, May 27. This offering of ENST20750 is delivered entirely on-line through my web site. I have no need for Moodle but I do build and maintain a dedicated course Internet web site and use this wiki to enhance communication and participation. You have found the wiki Bulletin Board so you are off to a good start, but you must also sign in, please! Your collaboration requires your enrolling, which is free. 

 

The course syllabus and the schedule are both up at my course web site. Please peruse them carefully. Notice in the schedule that I have asked you to send an email to me on our fist day, May 27. Please examine these course materials and tell my what you think and feel by email to whayes@ramapo.edu. Note that I do not use Moodle, but provide all course material through my own web server and my wiki. 

 

The only book you need to purchase is Lester Brown, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), which is widely available, including at the Ramapo College book store and as as a free pdf download. To follow current events, please subscribe to the New York Times digital edition. Note that the first assignment is due on June 2.

 

I am glad that you have joined Public Policy and look forward to working with you over the next five weeks.

 

 

 

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