Syllabus
PPS 264.34S - Historical Perspectives on Public Policy
Spring 2007
Mon/Wed 4:25-5:40
150 Sanford Institute
Professor Robert Korstad
Room 112 Sanford Institute
613-7335
rkorstad@duke.edu
Office Hours: Monday 1:30-2:30
Course Description:
This course will explore the ways that history and historical thinking can be of assistance to public policy makers. All issues have a history and that history will shape policy whether we understand it or not. This course will add focused historical understanding to the conceptual tools already deployed in public policy and will raise important methodological questions about how and why history matters to the work we do. In what ways can history provide evidence for social science generalizations and policy considerations? To what extent can historical analysis improve predictions about the behaviors of social groups and nations and thereby serve to inform policy choices. How do narrative techniques and story-telling strategies shape the crafting and implementation of public policy in the past and present? Too what extent are counterfactuals, when used with discipline and imagination, effective tools for conducting social science research and making public policy? We will use theoretical essays and case studies drawn from U.S. social policy to investigate these issues.
Requirements: 1. This is a seminar. “A seminar is, generally, a form of academic instruction, either at a university or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject, in which everyone present is requested to actively participate. This is often accomplished through an ongoing Socratic dialogue with a seminar leader or instructor, or through a more formal presentation of research. Normally, participants must not be beginners in the field under discussion (at a university, seminar classes are generally reserved for upper-year students). The idea behind the seminar system is to familiarize students more extensively with the methodology of their chosen subject and also to allow them to interact with examples of the practical problems that always crop up during research work. It is essentially a place where assigned readings are discussed, questions can be raised and debates conducted. It is relatively informal, at least compared to the lecture system of academic instruction.” (Wikipedia)
Attendance and participation in the discussion is expected. Class participation counts for 25% of your final grade.
2. Students will post a short comment (250 words) on BLACKBOARD based on the assigned reading for each seminar meeting. The comment should contain observations, questions, and disagreements based on the readings as well as connections to contemporary events that will help stimulate class discussion.
To help provide context for your comments, you should read the New York Times and additional web-based news sources (some suggested sources are listed on BLACKBOARD) on a daily basis and keep a clipping file of articles that pertain to the topics we will discuss in each part of the course as well as more general applications of history to public policy. Bring your clipping file to class on a regular basis so that you can refer to it in discussions when appropriate.
Postings should be made by 9:00 a.m. on the day of class. You should read the postings of the other students by the time the seminar meets, and you can respond to postings either before or after class. You will receive a grade on your postings for each part of the class. Each part will count 10 % for a total of 50 % of your final grade.
3. A final essay (10 pages) will analyze how history is, or is not, being used to guide current public policy making on a specific issue. Drafts of the papers will be the basis for the final week's discussion. The revised essay is due by Wednesday, April 25. This will count for 25% of your final grade.
4. Required Books:
John M. Barry, Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
Nancy F. Cott, Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation
John Gaddis, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past
Colin Gordon, Dead on Arrival: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-CenturyAmerica
Kristin A. Goss, Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America
*Indicates that readings are on e-Reserves on BLACKBOARD
SCHEDULE
Introduction
January 10: History as Policy Analysis
January 15: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
No Class Meeting—Participation in Campus Events (Post comments about one event on BLACKBOARD) http://mlk.duke.edu/
PART I --Framing the Issues
January 17: The Landscape of History
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Preface and Chapter 1
David Christian, “History in the Landscapes of Modern Knowledge”
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/hith/43/3
January 22: Time and Space
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 2
*Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob, “Postmodernism and the Crisis of Modernity,” in Telling the Truth About History
January 24: Structure and Process
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 3
*Stephen Jay Gould, “The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History,” in Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
Wikipedia, “Historical Materialism” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism
January 29: The Interdependency of Variables
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 4
January 31: Chaos and Complexity
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 5
Stephan Berry, “On the Problem of Laws in Nature and History: A Comparison”
http://www.jstor.org/view/00182656/di020250/02p0008p/0?currentResult=
00182656%2bdi020250%2b02p0008p%2b0%2c00&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.
jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FAdvancedResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26All%3DStephan
%2BBerry%26Exact%3D%26One%3D%26None%3D%26au%3Don%26sd%3D%26ed%
3D%26jt%3D%26ic%3D00182656%26node.History%3D1
February 5: Causation, Contingency, and Counterfactuals
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 6
William H. McNeill, “Mythistory; or Truth, Myth, History and Historians”
http://www.jstor.org/view/00028762/di951444/95p00077/0
February 7: Molecules with Minds of Their Own
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 7
Jonathan Cohn, “Irrational Exuberance”
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?index=9&did=45692045&SrchMode=3&sid=
1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1168357452
&clientId=15020&aid=1
Roger Lowenstein, “Exuberance is Rational”
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=383569621&SrchMode=1&sid=
1&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=11683577
15&clientId=15020
February 12: Seeing Like a Historian
Reading : Gaddis, The Landscape of History , Chapter 8
PART II -- History and Health Policy
February 14: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America
Reading : Gordon, Dead on Arrival , Introduction and Chapter 1
February 19: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America
Reading : Gordon, Dead on Arrival , Chapters 2, 3, & 4
February 21: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America
Reading :Gordon, Dead on Arrival , Chapters 5
February 26: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America
Reading : Gordon, Dead on Arrival , Chapters 6, 7, & Conclusion
PART III -- History and Social Policy
February 28: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America
Reading : Goss, Disarmed , Chapters 1 & 2
March 5: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America
Reading : Goss, Disarmed , Chapters 3, 4, & 5
March 7: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America
Reading : Goss, Disarmed , Chapters 6 & 7
Spring Break
PART IV -- History and Environmental Policy
March 19: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
Reading : Barry, Rising Tide , Parts 1 & 2
March 21: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
Reading : Barry, Rising Tide , Part 3
March 26: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
Reading : Barry, Rising Tide , Parts 4, 5, & 6
March 28: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
Reading : Barry, Rising Tide , Parts 7, 8, & 9
PART V -- History and Family Policy
April 2: A History of Marriage and the Nation
Reading : Cott, Public Vows , Introduction and Chapters 1, 2 &3
April 4: A History of Marriage and the Nation
Reading : Cott, Public Vows , Chapters 4, 5 & 6
April 9: A History of Marriage and the Nation
Reading : Cott, Public Vows , Chapters 7 & 8
April 11: A History of Marriage and the Nation
Reading : Cott, Public Vows , Chapter 9
PART VI -- History and Current Policy
April 16: Case Studies
Reading : Drafts of student papers
April 18: Case Studies
Reading : Drafts of student papers
April 25: Essay due
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