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Positive Political Science and Public Law I: The Administrative State This course, the first of a two-semester sequence offered jointly in the Law School and the Department of Government, will study the application of a set of analytical techniques known as positive political theory (PPT) to the study of law and politics in the modern U.S. administrative state. The hallmark of PPT is the use of formal models, similar to those used by economists, to analyze how complex political institutions operate and to make predictions about how political and legal actors are likely to behave under different conditions. The advantages of this approach, according to its proponents, are that the construction of a formal model clarifies underlying assumptions that might otherwise be left implicit, ensures internal logical coherence, and facilitates the analysis of complex systems with many moving parts. Though still controversial, PPT has been extremely influential not only among political scientists, but also in the legal academy and beyond. This seminar is designed to help students become intelligent, critical consumers of PPT literature. Through our study of the assigned readings (which will include both classic articles in the field and recent, unpublished work-in-progress) students will be exposed to a variety of PPT techniques and concepts. Students will also be encouraged to think critically about what makes a model effective or ineffective, how one ought to test or otherwise evaluate the predictions of PPT models, and the relevance of positive political analysis for normative and doctrinal debates. The specific substantive topics to be covered include legislative delegation of authority to administrative agencies, political oversight of the bureaucracy, the role of administrative procedures in shaping policy decisions, and judicial review of agency action. Enrollment is limited to 12. If the course is oversubscribed, preference will be given to (1) students who intend