W3923 SENIOR SEMINAR ON AMERICAN POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY

CONTEMPORARY POLITICS AND SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY

FALL 1999

Judith Russell

712 IAB

(212) 854-3977

email: jr323@columbia.edu

WED. 11—12:50 Office hours: W 10:00-11:00AM, 1-2PM

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This seminar is designed to give students an organized opportunity to investigate their own interests within key policy area in the United States—social welfare policy. Our plan is to finish the semester with a respectable understanding of the real world context and the issues which determine political decisions that shape contemporary American welfare state provision. This is not an historical course. We are situated literally in this course at the turn of the century and at a moment when political power will be transferred between individuals or political parties or both. So our focus will be on current events and future prospects.

While our focus is on the relationship between politics and public policy, this area cannot be understood without serious analysis of the countless economic, social, and cultural assumptions that underpin American government and its relationship to the polity. While we cannot do serious work in all of these areas, an unusual aspect of this course is that you will have an opportunity to shape the direction our work takes. So that, while we will start with a series of planned readings, we will determine between us in the first class specifically which policy areas and issues we wish to pursue together as a class. Our ability to move quickly to a literature which serves our immediate interests will be aided by an innovative exercise in which we will participate in this class. Greater flexibility in gaining free access to many of the course readings will be provided through an electronic “Article Pak” you may download via TheBeagle.com(http://www.thebeagle.com).

I have interests that I would like for us to consider over the semester. My assumption is that we will be concerned with specific policy areas like social security, health care reform and Medicare, antipoverty policy, employment policy and other areas of specific interest to students. In addition to these areas, I am interested in the evolution of both the Democratic and Republican parties towards a more centrist orientation. Presumably they are contending for that large bloc of potential voters they see at the center of the American political spectrum. Clinton and the DLC’s “Third Way” and George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism” are pointed in the same direction. But, who are these potential voters? What are their characteristics? An assumption throughout Clinton’s two administrations has been that their political loyalty is secure as long as their economic interests are. Is this American “center” a contemporary rendering of what used to be called the “Great American Middle Class?” But the so-called American middle class was not so nakedly self-interested as political analysts and experts assume contemporary voters to be. So, what does it mean to be middle class today in an age when the development of income inequality has been swift and relentless?

Related to this interest is the idea of the “Public Philosophy.” Do we have a public philosophy today and if so what is it? If the New Deal era its politics and public policies were informed by an overarching system of beliefs about the role and duty of government to protect citizens who suffered economic misfortune through no fault of their own, what systematic set of beliefs has replaced this today? This is not an idle exercise since the future of social welfare policy will be strongly affected by our current public philosophy and what we perceive our and our government’s role and responsibilities to be.

Course requirements:

1. Informed attendance. I have strong feelings about attendance. Each week assigned readings must be read before our class meeting. Do not come to class unprepared. This should be a lively and productive seminar, but can only be so with a high level of commitment by its participants. In this class you are responsible for signing the attendance sheet that circulates. You should arrive on time in order to sign this sheet. More than three absences will cause you to lose you right to complete the course.

2. Informed participation is expected. Classes will be organized by and around each week’s readings and student presentations related to them. This will entail two 15/20 minute presentations by each student during the semester. In addition, students who are not presenting are to submit hand written or typed reading notes on each week’s assigned reading. These may be informal or schematic impressions of the assigned material. The function of this exercise is not to determine the quality of your interpretation, but to assure that materials have been read before class.

3. Written work will take the form of a 25 page analytical research paper. The paper may be a critical analysis of some aspect of public policy or related issues we are studying. It may be a case study highlighting some aspect of social welfare policy from the governmental perspective or that of the private sector; it may be concerned with how these issues are affecting ordinary citizens; it may take another form we agree on together. A two page, typed, proposal of the research paper, with a tentative, annotated bibliography, must be submitted to me by September 29, although you may hand your proposal in before this date. Each student is responsible for scheduling at least one consultation with me before submitting her paper proposal and I am available for many more. The paper is due on December 8, unless you would like to hand it in early, no exceptions! If you have conflicts with presentations, papers, or exams in other classes, assume that you will hand your paper in on time or early.

Readings:

The following readings are available for purchase at the Columbia University Bookstore. We will add to this list as the class’s interests become clear as the semester begins.

Drew, Elizabeth, On the Edge: The Clinton Presidency (Simon & Schuster, 1994)

ISBN 0-684-81309-2 (Pbk).

Weir, Margaret, Ed., The Social Divide: Political Parties and the Future of Activist Government (Brookings Institution Press/ Russell Sage Foundation, 1998)

ISBN 0-8157-9287-5 (Pbk). May be ordered from Brookings at1-800-275-1447

Kingdon, John, Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies (Harper Collins, 1995)

Glynn, Herbst, O’Keefe and Shapiro, Public Opinion (Westview Press, 1999)

ISBN 0-8133-2917-5 (Pbk).

Articles and chapters:

Samuel Beer “The Public Philosophy…” in The New American Political System

T. H. Marshall “Citizenship and Social Class” in Class, Citizenship and Social Development

Preliminary organization of readings and presentation schedule:

September 8 Introduction

September 15 Drew’s On the Edge

September 22 Weir’s The Social Divide chs 1,2,3,9,10

Bernstein, Ho, Wasow,Herrera

Schedule discussions on research papers or email JR

September 29 Weir’s The Social Divide chs 5,6,7

Jordan ,Letz, Cox, Rocha

Two page research proposal w. annotated bibliography due

October 6 Middle class politics and philosophy today: the American Welfare State, and public policy

TH Marshall “Citizenship and Social Class”

Samuel Beer “The Public Philosophy…” in Anthony King, ed., The New American Political System

Odabashian, Arena, Jordan

October 13 What constitutes the public role?

Glynn, Herbst, O’Keefe and Shapiro Public Opinion Chs 4,5,6,7,9,10,11

Obadashian

October 20 Policymaking without models

John Kingdon Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies

Wasow,

October 27 Employment Policy TBA

Bernstein

November 3 Health Reform TBA

November 10 Crime Policy, Gun Reform, Prison Reform TBA

Weir The Social Divide Ch. 8

Bloodgood, Aiken, Herrera, Cox, Ozrumba

November 17 An Urban Agenda I: Federal Policy

Weir’s The Social Divide Ch 11, TBA

Wasow, Rocha, Sharp, Ho

November 24 No class

December 1 An Urban Agenda II: Welfare Reform

Letz, Lee, Saelinger, Arena

December 8