PUBLIC POLICY 145: LEADERSHIP, POLICY, AND CHANGE
Public Policy Studies, Duke University
Fall 2005

Instructor: Bruce Payne, 148 Sanford Institute, 613-7346; bpayne@duke.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2 to 5 PM, and by appointment (and most weekday evenings)

REQUIRED READING

Careful and thorough reading is essential to the life of the class, and must be completed by the first day for which the readings or films are listed. Items marked (*) should be purchased.

September 1 – An introduction: responsibilities and insights

* Canin, Ethan "The Palace Thief" in The Palace Thief, pp. 155-205.

September 6 and 8 – Fiction in search of insight

* Graham Greene "The Destructors" in Collected Short Stories, pp. 9-22.

* O'Brien, Tim "The Things They Carried" in The Things They Carried pp.1-25.

"Leadership, Policy, and Change," a description of the course, by Bruce Payne

September 13 and 15 – The Montgomery bus boycott: history, chance, character, and preparation

* Branch, Taylor Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63, preface, and chapters 1 - 5, pp. xi-xii, 1-205.

September 20 and 22 -- Organizational and national politics; sit-ins and freedom rides

Branch, Taylor Parting the Waters, chapters 6 - 11, pp. 206-450.

September 27 and 29 – The student movement; failure at Albany; King and the Kennedys

Branch, Taylor Parting the Waters, chapters 12-18, pp. 451-707.

October 4 and 6 – Birmingham and the great march: race, and politics, and change

Branch, Taylor Parting the Waters, chapters 19-23, pp. 708-922.

Payne, Bruce “Non-Violence and the Politics of Change"

October 13, 18, and 20 – Leadership and drama

* Shakespeare King Lear (Cambridge Edition)

* Cavell, Stanley “The Avoidance of Love: A Reading of King Lear” in Disowning Knowledge in Seven Plays of Shakespeare, pp. 39 –123.

October 25 and 27 – Tragic perspectives

* Shakespeare King Lear (Cambridge Edition)

November 1 and 3 – Leadership and music

*Matewan, a film directed by John Sayles (please order a copy of this film over the Internet; your price will be better than the Duke bookstore can achieve).

*Sayles, John Thinking in Pictures: The Making of the Movie Matewan, pp. 9-34.

November 8 and 10 – Conflict and community

* Kingsolver, Barbara "Why I Am a Danger to the Public" in Homeland, pp. 226-244.

* Cisneros, Sandra "Woman Hollering Creek" and “Little Miracles, Kept Promises,” in Woman Hollering Creek, pp. 43-56 and 116-129.

November 15 and 17 – Self-discovery and action

Newman, Lesléa "A Letter to Harvey Milk" in A Letter to Harvey Milk, pp. 32-47.

* O'Connor, Flannery "A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “The Lame Shall Enter First" in The Complete Stories, pp. 117-133 and 445-482.

November 22 and 29, and December 1 – Transforming language

* Wills, Gary Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America.

December 6 and 8 – Conclusions

Holy Bible: II Samuel Ch. 11 through Ch. 19, v.8. (David and Bathsheba; Nathan; the rape of Tamar; the rebellion of Absalom; the restoration of David.)

CLASS PARTICIPATION

Most leadership tasks depend on discussion, and discussion is an essential part of this course. Your participation in will be crucial to our efforts in class to make sense of the readings and to weigh their implications for our understanding of the conceptual and practical problems of leadership. You should always be ready to respond in class to the study questions with thoughtful and considered answers (quality matters far more than quantity, and thoughtful questions are often the most valuable comments). Beyond this, informal Monday-night study groups are strongly recommended. Small-group discussions with the instructor can often be scheduled (often over lunch, or dinner).

In addition to participation in class, participation in informal Monday-night study groups is recommended. Small-group discussions with the instructor can often be scheduled (sometimes over lunch or dinner). Joining in discussions on Blackboard is expected. Messages can also be sent to me directly, bpayne@duke.edu, with 116 in the subject field. Please write succinctly, and edit your messages. I will reply as quickly as I can.

EXAMS AND PAPERS

Ten-minute essay exams on one of the study questions assigned for that week may be given during any class (expect eight or ten of these). These will usually, but not always, be given at the beginning of class on Tuesdays. Like the questions posed in class, these exams require thorough and reflective reading: they will be evaluated for the insights you bring to the material and on the care and accuracy of your analysis of the readings. Short-answer quizzes reflecting the concerns of the study questions may also be given at any time, and short papers on the readings may occasionally be assigned in place of exams or quizzes. There will also be a regularly scheduled final exam, covering materials from the semester.

GRADING

Your grade will depend on the following: quality of class participation, including responses to questions in class, other comments in class and discussion section, and exchanges with the instructor, 25%; exams, quizzes, and short papers, 60 %; final exam, 15%. Teaching assistants working under my supervision – graduate students, undergraduates, or alumni – will grade some of your papers.