POLITICAL SCIENCE 316
Intro to Public Administration
Fall, 2007

Office:        Founders Hall 130
Phone:         826-3914
E-MAIL:        wrd1@humboldt.edu or wrdaniel05@pacbell.net
URL:           http://www.humboldt.edu/~wrd1/psci316
Hours:         9:00 - 10:30 TTh,or by appt.

During the past few decades we have encountered phrases such as "get government off our backs!" Every modern President has come to Washington promising to eliminate bureaucratic red tape, or to "reduce the bloated bureaucracy," or to "reinvent government." For some "privatization" has become a symbol held to be as dear as motherhood and apple pie. Despite all the noise, we continue to have a vast administrative machinery operating in the public sector, and will continue to have such into the distant future. The same is true with respect to every other industrial nation in the world. Thus it appears that though many of us say we don't like them, we can't live without the administrative agencies which provide so many services for us. The events of September 11, 2001 seem to have changed significantly (at least for now) attitudes toward government to the extent there is more trust in our institutions than was the case previously. But have we truly learned our lesson, or will revert to the past. We will explore this question when we read about homeland security.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the world of public administration from a variety of perspectives. "Administration" involves management and execution in a bureaucratic setting. There are various sets of values that go along with this perspective, values such as "efficiency," "effectiveness," and "equity." There are a different set of values inherent in the concept, "Public." Some of these values include "pluralism," "participation," and "representation," Yet public administrators must work within the confines of "the law," and it must always be remembered that the actions of administrative agencies unfold in a political environment. The legal perspective emphasizes "individual rights," due process," and "adversarial decision-making," and the political environment emphasizes such values as accountability and responsiveness. These various values are not necessarily compatible. We shall employ these different perspectives in order to better understand the men and women "doing public administration" and the political and organizational environment in which they operate. Although bureaucracies have the reputation of being impersonal and neutral, we shall see that administrators are deeply concerned with values , not only in the policies they help formulate and implement, but also in their organizational world.  The Greene text is designed to be a concise introduction to the field, encompassing the perspectives above.  The Workbook is designed to combine "theory" and practical experience in a lab setting.  This combination should provide students with "the basics" from which to build an appreciation for the complecities of managing the public sector in a modern society.

Your grade in this course will be based on your performance on 2 mid terms (20% each), a final exam (30%), and a term paper (20%). Attendance, participation and timely submission of assigned work will account for 10% of your grade.  Most, though not all, of the exercises will be in-class group projects.  Each exercise has a list of questions to answer.  These you may do individually or in groups.  They are to be turned in NO LATER THAN the class period after the exercise has been completed.  Those who are not Political Science majors may take the course credit/no credit. Make up exams are given without penalty only to those with legitimate excuses and only to those who inform me in advance of their impending absence.

For your term paper you are to do an "ecological" analysis of a national, state, or local public agency. By this I mean analyzing the political, organizational, and legal environment in which the agency of your choice operates. What is the agency's mission statement? Where does it fit in the Organizational Chart? How is the agency financed? With whom in the legislature or executive branch does the agency work? Who are its friends, its enemies? Also, provide a brief case analysis of an instance in which the agency has attempted to implement a policy. This paper should be 10 - 12 pages in length. It is expected that your paper will be of a "pre professional" quality That means proper grammar, spelling and documentation. Footnotes and Bibliography should be in a format acceptable to the editors of The Public Administration Review.

The CAIB Report (Columbia Space Shuttle)

California Performance Review  (2004)

Federal Emergency Response Plan