Today I helped a SPA graduate student during the research consultations who is working on a research paper for PAF 9100. They are to apply concepts from Kingdon (on policymaking) and Wilson (on bureacracy) to one of four options on policy formations. (These are authors that they have read.)
The choices are:
U.S. Housing Act of 1937. I have learned that this act established permanent public housing in the U.S. Also sometimes called the Wagner Housing Act of 1937, or the Wagner-Steagall Act.
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. This act reauthorized some educational programs, established standards to be met, and gave more emphasis to improving reading, among other things. (I don't think there will be any problem with this one.)
The Hart-Celler Act of 1965. (It is misspelled as Hart-Cellar on the assignment, and in a number of references found on Google. Emanuel Celler was a New York representative from Brooklyn who served many terms.) This act is also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. It ended the national origins quota system.
Social Security Act Amendments of 1965. These amendments established the Medicare/Medicaid program.
The students are to use books, scholarly journals, reports by research institutes or (to a small extent) articles from major news outlets.
My student was working on the Medicare/Medicaid program question. Although not exhaustive, the following are suggested possible resources. (Barbara Carrel reminded me of several of the sources listed below.)
CUNY+ for books--using keywords. Books about the presidential terms of Franklin Roosevelt (1937), Lyndon Johnson (1965) and George W. Bush may also provide some insights as these reforms were major ones.
U.S. Code and Congressional News would have some legislative history. Our subscription starts in 1967 but earlier years are available at NYPL-SIBL.
JSTOR, PAIS International, America History & Life, Medline Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw for articles. (The students should probably check to see if the professor considers law review articles scholarly resources.)
Policy File for studies and reports.
The encyclopedias available on Gale Virtual Reference database could provide background information.
The historic versions of the WSJ and the New York Times would be resources for interest groups, etc.
The student and I tried some searches in Facts on File, also good for background,and CQ Researcher (didn't go back far enough for the 1965 passage of legislation.) We also expanded the searches beyond the immediate years of passage of the legislation so that some perspective could be found.
I hope that these suggestions are helpful.
Some of the questions that they are expected to answer are:
Why and how did the issue that the policy addresses get onto the agenda?
Waht was the intended goal of the policy? Was that goal guided by a search for a public good?
Which publics were heard on the issue, in the sense of having their views addressed and supported in the policymaking process. Which publics were ignored or excluded?
What tools of policymaking were used in the policy formation process?
What constraints did policymakers face as they constructed the specifics of the policy?
What was the outcome of the policy process? That is, what did the policy actuall mandate?
Did the policy attain the intended goals, and/or address the issue that originally motivated the policy process?
What were the unintended consequences of the policy as enacted? Etc.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment