The Politics of Regulation

The Politics of Regulation

POL 428

Fall 2006

The purpose of this course is to provide students with analytic perspectives about the topic of government regulation. Furthermore, this course will provide a large amount of substantive knowledge about government regulation. The course will focus on several topics, including (1) justifications (reasons) for government regulation, (2) various methods or types of regulation, (3) the processes by which regulatory agencies reach decisions, and (4) the political features of regulation and regulatory decision-making. This set of objectives will be accomplished by several different methods. First, a variety of reading assignments will be made from assigned textbooks and from other materials. Class discussion will involve student's in the learning process by asking students to articulate ideas from the readings and students will be asked to evaluate these ideas in class discussions. Second, various writing assignments based on library research and analytic thinking and analysis will permit students to explore a selected regulatory policy question in depth.

Textbooks for the course are the following. They have been ordered from University Bookstore and should be purchased at the outset of the semester. Reading assignments from these will be made in class as appropriate.

Cornelius Kerwin, Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy 3rd ed. (Congressional Quarterly Press, 2003) Paperback

Eisner, Marc Allen, Jeff Worsham, and Evan Ringquist, Contemporary Regulatory Policy 2nd ed. (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006) Paperback

This is a limited set of "required" reading. Students will be expected to identify and read additional articles and book chapters and other materials that relate to the assigned readings and to their Projects. These should be developed throughout the semester by each student. These additional readings will be used for the class project. They will also be used to supplement the textbook materials listed above. Students are to maintain a current bibliography of the additional materials they identify and read. These will be submitted occasionally during the semester. (See below in this syllabus.)

Student grades for this course will be based on the following components and weights:

Writing Project 35%

In-Class Examinations 25%

Final Examination (cumulative) 25%

Class Participation 15%

Total 100%

N.B. This distribution of grades and weights is intended to provide the student with a wide variety of opportunities to do well in this class. It is important that students do their best on all of these opportunities, since education does not involve only a single dimension.

Class attendance is mandatory!!! That is partly because there is a Class Participation component of your grade. That portion of the grade depends on your regular attendance and advanced preparation of assignments. Any student who is absent when called on for participation will receive a grade of zero for that day. Attendance is also required because a good deal of the learning that takes place in this course will emerge from student contributions (discussions) during class. So, student reading and out-of- class work is only part of the learning process. That "outside" work is NOT sufficient (although it is necessary) for mastery of the material. STUDENTS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO DISCUSS TOPICS OR MATTERS RELATING TO THE COURSE WITH THE INSTRUCTOR if they have difficulty understanding or using the materials or want to learn more about a subject. DO NOT POSTPONE THOSE DISCUSSIONS IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SUBJECTS COVERED IN THE READINGS OR IN CLASS OR ABOUT GRADES IN THE COURSE.

Class Participation. The purpose of this portion of the class will be to help students develop their oral communications skills. The class participation grade for this course will be based on individual students being called on randomly, and asked questions about the assigned readings. Their responses to these questions will be evaluated, and those evaluations will form the basis for class participation grades as well as the discussions in class. It is essential that students arrive in class, each day, prepared to discuss the assigned materials.

In-Class Examinations. These will involve students responding to a variety of short answer questions about the assigned readings and class discussions. These will require the student to develop a substantial amount of substantive knowledge about regulatory topics and skills to analyze regulatory policies, processes, and actions. The in-class examinations will focus on specific, narrow questions derived from reading assignments and class discussions. Students will have to keep up with the readings and be prepared on a daily basis for these exams. These examinations will be numerous (at least five or six during the semester) and they may be unannounced. The Final Examination will probably be a take-home or open-book examination that will be cumulative for the entire semester.

The Writing Project in this course will involve a major research paper that deals with a selected topic. It will involve several stages that will lead to the development of a sound paper. There are a variety of due dates for parts of the paper during the semester. The mechanics and due dates for these papers are outlined elsewhere on this website. There are various due dates for phases of this project that are posted on the website as well.

The Project will require that each student select a federal regulatory agency at the beginning of the semester, and conduct various parts of the research project throughout the semester. The list below provides a partial list of possible agencies.

The selection of an agency is important, and students will be expected to complete several tasks before they settle on an agency. First, they should do sufficient background research on the agency so that they have a good sense of what the agency does (i.e., what it is authorized to regulate), and how the agency operates. Second, they need to identify and write (a paragraph) that focuses on a research question that relates to the agency's functions or its policy making processes. Third, they should present and discuss this paragraph with the instructor and get that research question approved.