PLCP 4150: Comparative Public Policy (Summer 2010)
http://people.virginia.edu/~ljs2k/cp4150-summer.html
MTWRF 1:00 - 3:15 pm in Gibson 141
Prof. Len Schoppa
South Lawn S461 (tel: 924-3211)
Hrs: By Appointment
e-mail: ljs2k@virginia.edu
Why do policies on issues
like social welfare, education, and immigration differ markedly from nation to
nation? Can we find the answers in contrasting cultures, state
institutions, societal organizations, or some mix of all of these
explanations? This course provides you with an opportunity to learn more
about how public policies in other nations differ from our own while
simultaneously challenging you to think about why they differ in the ways they
do. The course focuses on policies in areas including those listed above
with examples coming primarily from advanced industrialized nations like
Requirements:
The grade in this seminar
will be based on four components: participation in daily discussions; four
short papers reacting to assigned readings; an oral presentation on a specific
public policy topic; and a final research paper on the same topic. All
students are required to do all of the assigned reading and come to all seminar
sessions ready to participate actively in discussions. Students' participation
grades (20% of the semester grade) will be based on the degree to which their
participation on a daily basis is active and informed. Students will also
be required to write a total of four 3-4 page short papers (20%)
reacting to assigned readings. These
short papers will be due at 10 a.m. on the morning of class by email. Papers turned in after 10 a.m. will be docked
one letter grade for being late. No
papers will be accepted after the class meets and discusses the week’s
reading. The short papers are due every
other day during the middle portion of the term, with each session assigned to
the first or second half of the alphabet of student names. If you are assigned to do a short paper on a
week when you are scheduled to do an oral presentation, you are asked to do a
paper instead on the week before or after this date.
In addition to
participating in these ways on a daily basis, students will be asked to choose
one of the policy topics from the syllabus and make a 15-minute oral
presentation (20%) and write a 12-15 page final paper (40%) on this
topic. Presenters (typically two each
session, total of 30 minutes) will be responsible for doing extra reading on
the topic, presenting information on the policies in place in several nations
in the issue area, and raising questions for discussion by the group.
Policy areas for sessions x to xx have been set. For all of these
sessions, all students are required to read the core readings while the
presenters are required, in addition, to read the supplemental reading along
with other books and articles they find on their own in the library. No
policy areas have been penciled in for the final three sessions, which are set
aside for topics other than those I chose that are of interest to specific
students. For these sessions, the assigned readings for the class will be
one-page abstracts of the presenting students' papers. Students
should plan on committing to a topic by day 2 of the class (Wednesday
6/16). The final paper, on a narrower
aspect of the topic covered in the oral presentation, must compare policy in a
specific area across at least two countries with reference to theoretical
arguments covered in the course. The paper should be organized around a
“puzzle” (why do two countries with similar problems address them in different
ways?) and should advance a coherent argument explaining the puzzle with
reference to the theoretical literature covered in the class. We will have
workshop sessions twice during the course of the term to assist students in
doing research, preparing presentations, and writing up the papers. The paper is due on July 7. Late papers will be accepted, if permission
has been given prior to the due date based on a very good reason. Unexcused
delays will result in a deduction of one letter grade for each day the
paper is late.
Assigned readings are a
very important part of the course, but there is only one assigned books (Reid’s
The Healing of America). In addition to this book, we will be
reading each week one or two somewhat dense (with political science theory)
articles and/or book chapters. These readings, marked with a *, will be
available in PDF format on the Collab site for this class under
“resources.”
In addition, students will
be expected to read several books and additional articles on their chosen topic
area. I have made specific suggestions
for the assigned topics under the heading “supplemental reading.” I suggest you check out the suggested books
at the library early in the term and/or order key books online. Don’t wait until too close to your
deadline!! Most of the suggested journal
articles can be found by going to Virgo on one of the university’s network
computers, typing in the name of the journal, clicking “journal title”,
clicking on the URL for the journal, and finding the relevant volume, number,
and article. You should also locate
additional books and articles using the libraries electronic databases.
SCHEDULE AND
ASSIGNMENTS:
I. GENERAL
INTRODUCTION: WHAT EXPLAINS POLICY CHOICE? (Monday 6/14 – Note: There will be NO CLASS on 6/15)
II. SOCIAL COALITONS AS
EXPLANATIONS
(Wednesday 6/16)
First Order of Business: Choose Topic of Presentation and Paper.
*Gosta Esping-Andersen and
Roger Friedland, "Class Coalitions in the Making of Western European
Economics," in Esping-Andersen and Friedland, eds., Political Power and
Social Theory, Vol. III (Greenwich, CT: Jai Press, 1982): 1-52.
Additional Sources: Peter
Gourevitch, Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International
Economic Crises (Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1986); Ronald Rogowski,
Commerce and Coalitions: How Trade Affects Domestic Political Alignments
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989); Gosta Esping-Anderson, The
Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (UK: Polity Press, 1990); Gosta
Esping-Andersen, Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economics (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1999).
Homework: Meet with your partner.
Visit the library and collect books and articles on your topic.
III. INSTITUTIONS AS
EXPLANATIONS
(Thursday 6/17)
*Sven Steinmo,
"Political Institutions and Tax Policy in the
*Jacob Hacker, “The
Historical Logic of National Health Insurance: Structure and Sequence in the
Development of British, Canadian, and U.S. Medical Policy,” Studies in
American Political Development 12 (Spring 1998): 57-130.
Additional Sources: Paul
Pierson, "The New Politics of the Welfare State," World Politics
48 (January 1996): 143-79; Paul Pierson, "Three Worlds of Welfare State
Research," Comparative Political Studies 33:6/7 (August/September
2000): 791-821; Sven Steinmo, Kathleen Thelen and Frank Longstreth, eds., Structuring
Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis (Cambrdige:
Cambrdige University Press, 1992); James Marsh and Johan Olsen, "The New
Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life," American
Political Science Review 78 (September 1984): 734-749; Terry Moe, "The
Politics of Structural Choice: Toward a Theory of Bureaucracy," in Oliver
Williamson, ed., Organization Theory (New York: Oxford University Press,
1990): 116-153; Peter
Evans, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995).
IV. WORKSHOP on POLICY
RESEARCH and PRESENATIONS (Friday
6/18)
Bring library materials and laptop to do research; work with your
partner; lessons on research tips; powerpoint tips.
V. IDEAS AND CULTURE AS
EXPLANATIONS
(Monday 6/21)
*Anthony King,
"Ideas, Institutions and the Policies of Governments: A Comparative
Analysis," British Journal of Political Science 3:3-4 (July -
October 1973): 291-313 & 409-423.
*
Additional Sources: Peter Hall,
The Political Power of Economic Ideas: Keynesianism Across Nations
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989); John Kingdon, Agendas,
Alternatives, and Public Policies (Glenview, Ill: Scott, Foresman, 1984);
Ngaire Woods, "Economic Ideas and International Relations: Beyond Rational
Neglect," International Studies Quarterly 39 (June 1995): 161-180;
Randall Hansen and Desmond King, "Eugenic Ideas, Political Interests, and
Policy Variance: Immigration and Sterilization Policy in Britain and the
U.S.," World Politics 53 (January 2001): 237-263; Jeffrey W. Legro,
“The Transformation of Policy Ideas,” American Journal of Political Science
44:3 (July 2000): 419-432.
Short Paper Topic: Summarize how Americans differ from
Europeans and Japanese in terms of ideas and culture. How exactly do these differences show up in
terms of public policy? (first half of the alphabet)
VI. TOPIC: WORK /
ANTIPOVERTY POLICY
(Tuesday 6/22)
*Torben Iversen, Capitalism,
Democracy and Welfare (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 3-74,
246-277.
Supplemental Reading:
Margarita Estevez-Abe, Welfare Capitalism in Postwar Japan (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008); Robert Lieberman, “Race, Institutions, and
the Administration of Social Policy,” Social Science History 19 (Winter
1995): 511-542; T.J. Pempel, "Japan
and Sweden: Polarities of `Responsible Capitalism'," in Dankwart A. Rustow
and Kenneth P. Erickson, eds., Comparative Political Dynamics: Global
Research Perspectives (New York: Harper Collins, 1991): 408-438; Robert
Henry Cox, “The Social Construction of an Imperative: Why Welfare Reform
Happened in Denmark and the Netherlands but Not in Germany,” World Politics
53 (April 2001): 463-98; R. Kent Weaver, Ending Welfare as We Know It
(Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2000); Martin Gilens, Why Americans Hate
Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2000); Peter Hall and David Soskice, eds., Varieties
of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Peter Swenson, Capitalists Against
Markets: The Making of Labor Markets and Welfare States in the United States
and Sweden (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002); Jonas Pontusson, Inequality
and Prosperity: Social Europe Versus Liberal America (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 2005); Leonard Schoppa, Race for the Exits: The Unraveling
of Japan’s System of Social Protection (Ithaca: Cornell University Press,
2006).
Short Paper Topic: Why, according to Iversen, have the
low-skill equilibrium countries and the high-skill equilibrium countries
adopted such different approaches to labor markets and social protection? In view of their explanations, is there any
room for the United States to move toward the European model? (second half
of the alphabet)
VII. TOPIC: FAMILY
POLICY (Wednesday
6/23)
*Kimberly Morgan, “The
Politics of Mothers’ Employment:
*Patricia Boling, “Demography,
Culture, and Policy: Understanding Japan’s Low Fertility,” Population and
Development Review 34:2 (2008), pp. 307-326.
Supplemental Reading: Kimberly
Morgan, Working Mothers and the Welfare State: Religion and the Politics of
Work-Family Policies in Western Europe and the United States (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 2006); Anne Helene Gauthier, The State and the Family: A Comparative
Analysis of Family Policies in Industrialized Countries (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1996); Julia O'Connor, Ann Shola Orloff, and Sheila Shaver, States,
Markets, Families: Gender, Liberalism and Social Policy in Australia, Canada,
Great Britain, and the United States (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1999); Susan Pedersen, Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the
Welfare State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993); Diane
Sainsbury, Gender, Equality and Welfare States (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996); Chiara Saraceno, "Family Change, Family Policies
and the Restructuring of Welfare," in OECD, ed., Family, Market and
Community: Equity and Efficiency in Social Policy (Paris: OECD, 1997):
81-100; Sylvia Ann Hewlett, Creating a Life: Professional Women and the
Quest for Children (New York: Talk Miramax, 2002); Janet Gornick and Marcia
Meyers, Families That Work: Policies for Reconciling Parenthood and
Employment (New York: Russell Sage, 2005); Leonard Schoppa, Race for the
Exits: The Unraveling of Japan’s System of Social Protection (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2006); OECD series titled Babies and Bosses:
Reconciling Work and Family Life, with four volumes covering 13 countries,
2002-2006.
VIII. TOPIC: HEALTHCARE
POLICY (Thursday
6/24)
T.R. Reid, The Healing
of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care
(Penguin Press, 2009), all.
Supplemental Reading:
Carolyn Hughes Tuohy, Accidental Logics : The Dynamics of Change in the
Health Care Arena in the United States, Britain, and Canada (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999); Ellen Immergut, "The Rules of the Game: The Logic
of Health Policymaking in France, Switzerland, and Sweden," in Sven
Steinmo, Kathleen Thelen, and Frank Longstreth, eds., Structuring Politics:
Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992): 57-89; Joseph White, Competing Solutions: American
Health Care Proposals and International Experience (Washington, D.C.:
Brookings, 1995); Richard Freeman, The Politics of Health in Europe
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000); John Campbell and Naoki
Ikegami, The Art of Balance in Health Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1998); Laurene Graig, Health of Nations: International
Perspectives on U.S. Health Care Reform (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1999);
Jacob Hacker, The Great Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families,
Health Care, and Retirement (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006); Sven
Steinmo and John Watts, "Its the Institutions, Stupid!: Why the United
States Can't Pass Comprehensive National Health Insurance," Journal of
Health Politics Policy and Law 20: 2 (1995): 329-372; and Susan Giaimo,
"Who Pays for Health Care Reform," in Paul Pierson, ed., The New
Politics of the Welfare State (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001):
334-367.
Short Paper Topic: To what degree will Obama’s health
care reform close the gaps that Reid sees between the American system and the
other systems he describes? (all
students except the day’s presenters)
IX. MOVIE SCREENING (Friday 6/25)
Michael
Moore’s Sicko.
X. TOPIC: SOCIAL
SECURITY / PENSION POLICY (Monday
6/28)
*John Myles and Paul
Pierson, "The Comparative Political Economy of Pension Reform," in
Paul Pierson, ed., The New Politics of the Welfare State (
*Karen M. Anderson,
"The Politics of Retrenchment in a Social Democratic Welfare State: Reform
of Swedish Pensions and Unemployment Insurance,” Comparative Political
Studies 34:9 (November 2001): 1063-1091.
*Daniel Beland and Toshimitsu Shinkawa, “Public
and Private Policy Change: Pension Reform in Four Countries,” Policy Studies
Journal 35:3: 349-371.
Supplemental Reading: Alan
M. Jacobs, “Policymaking as Political Constraint: Institutional Development in
the U.S. Social Security Program,” in James Mahoney and Kathleen Thelen, eds., Explaining
Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency, and Power (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2009), pp. 94-131;
Jonathan Gruber and David Wise, eds., Social Security Programs and
Retirement Around the World: Fiscal Implications of Reform (Chicago:
Chicago University Press, 2007); Giuliano Bonoli and Toshimitsu Shinkawa, eds, Ageing
and Pension Reform Around the World (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2005); OECD,
Reforms for an Aging Society (Paris, OECD, 2001); Daniel Beland, Social
Security: History and Politics From the New Deal to the Privatization Debate
(Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005); Jacob Hacker, The Great
Risk Shift: The Assault on American Jobs, Families, Health Care, and Retirement
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006); S.M. Brooks, “Social Protection and
Economic Integration: The Politics of Pension Reform in an Era of Capital
Mobility,” Comparative Political Studies 35:5 (June 2002): 491-523.
Short Paper Topic: Why are
XI. TOPIC: URBAN
PLANNING / TRANSPORTATION POLICY (Tuesday 6/29)
*Ralph Buehler, John
Pucher, and Uwe Kunert, “Making Transportation Sustainable: Insights from
Germany,” Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program, 2009 (all 30
pages).
Supplemental Reading: C.
Bae and H.W. Richardson, eds., Sprawl in Western Europe and the United
States (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004); Stephan Schmidt and Ralph Buehler, “The
Planning Process in the US and Germany: A Comparative Analysis,” International
Planning Studies 12:1 (Feb 2007), pp. 55-75; John Pucher and Ralph Buehler,
“Cycling for Everyone: Lessons from Europe,” Transportation Research Record,
Vol 2074 (2008), pp 2074-3008; John Pucher and Christian Lefevre, The Urban
Transport Crises in Europe and North America (Macmillan, 1996); Pietro S.
Nivola, Laws of the Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and
America (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1999); Peter Newman and Jeffrey
Kenworthy, Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence
(Island Press, 1999); Myron Orfield, American Metropolitics: The New
Suburban Reality (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 2002); Alex Marshall, How
Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken (Austin: University
of Texas Press, 2001); Clifford Winston and Chad Shirley, Alternate Route :
Toward Efficient Urban Transportation (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 1998);
James Dunn, Driving Forces: The Automobile, Its Enemies, and the Politics of
Mobility (Washington, D.C.: Brookings, 1998);.
Short Paper Topic: What policy differences account for
the significant difference in transportation mode choice between the United
States and Germany? Is the U.S. locked
into a sprawling, auto-dependent pattern, or does it have room to move toward
the German model? (second half of the alphabet)
XII. WORKSHOP on PAPER
WRITING (Wednesday
6/30)
Bring a bibliography and outline of your paper to class.
XIII. TOPIC: EDUCATION
POLICY (Thursday
7/1)
*Kathleen
Thelen and Ikuo Kume, “The Rise of Nonmarket Training Regimes:
*Helen
F. Ladd, “School Vouchers: A Critical View,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives 16:4 (Autumn 2002), pp. 3-24.
Supplemental
Reading: John E. Chubb
and Terry Moe, Politics, Markets & America's Schools (Washington,
D.C.: Brookings, 1990); Martin Carnoy,
et al, The Charter School Dust-up: Examining Evidence on Enrollment and
Achievement (Teachers’ College Press, 2005); William G.
Howell and Paul E. Peterson, The Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools (Brookings
Institution Press, 2002); Kathleen Thelen, How Institutions Evolve: The
Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, and Japan (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004); Ian Finlay, Changing Vocational Education
and Training (London: Routledge, 1998); Leonard Schoppa, Education
Reform in Japan (London: Routledge, 1991).
Short Essay Question: Why have nations like Japan,
Germany, the United States and Britain developed education systems with differing
market/non-market structures for providing education and training? (first half of the alphabet)
XIV. TOPIC: IMMIGRATION
POLICY (Friday
7/2)
*Christian Joppke,
"Why Liberal States Accept Unwanted Immigration," World Politics
50:2 (January 1998): 266-293.
*Amy Gurowitz,
"Mobilizing International Norms: Domestic Actors, Immigrants, and the
Supplemental Reading:
Wayne Cornelius, Takeyuki Tsuda, Philip Martin, and James Hollifield, eds., Controlling
Immigration : A Global Perspective, 2nd edition (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 2004); Alejandro Portes and Josh DeWind, eds., Rethinking
Migration: New Theoretical Perspectives (NewYork: Berghahn Books, 2007); Samuel
Huntington, “The Hispanic Challenge,” Harvard Academy for International and
Area Studies (2004); Grede Brochmann and Tomas Hammar, eds., Mechanisms
of Immigration Control : A Comparative Analysis of European Regulation Policies
(Berg, 1999).
Short Essay Question: Why have both Germany and Japan
recently relaxed policies that were hostile to immigration even though both
have histories of valuing national ethnic “homogeneity”? Of the explanations offered by Joppke and
Gurowitz, which is more convincing? (second half of the alphabet)
XV. STUDENT TOPICS (Tuesday 7/6)
Abstracts of
student papers.
XIII. STUDENT TOPICS (Wednesday 7/7)
Abstracts of
student papers.
PAPERS DUE JULY 7
XIV. STUDENT TOPICS (Thursday 7/8)
Abstracts of
student papers.
ADDITIONAL IDEAS FOR
STUDENT TOPICS:
Comparative Environmental
Policy
Comparative Policy on Abortion
Comparative Policy on Capital Punishment
Comparative "Political Reform" (how nations try to keep politics
`clean')
Comparative Higher Education Policy
Comparative Tax Policy
Comparative Regulatory Policy (e.g. of Telecommunications)
Comparative Narcotics Regulation (Drug Policy)
Comparative Anti-Trust Policy
PLAGIARISM AND CHEATING: Taking the words and ideas of another and presenting them as your own (without proper use of quotation marks and citation) constitutes "plagiarism" and is considered grounds for trial and expulsion from the university through the Honor process. In the past several years, I have seen one of my students expelled for this reason and another failed for attempting to cheat on a final exam. I take all cases of this type seriously and urge students to uphold the honor code.