Public Policy: Interests, Ideas, Institutions
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
- Tutors: Ben Worthy, Patrick Coupar
- Assessment: a 4000-word essay (90%) and 1000-word seminar log (10%)
Module description
Public policy is a strand of social science that employs general theories of policy-making to understand developments in specific policy areas. This course introduces you to three dominant theoretical paradigms in this field and uses them to understand developments in a wide range of policy areas, including health care, social policy, migration, the environment, education and macroeconomics.
The first paradigm views self-interested actors both inside and outside government as the key drivers of public policy; the second explores how governmental actors, interest groups and scientific communities utilise specific ideas to influence the policy process; the third focuses on the link between public policy and institutional factors with specific reference to the role of independent agencies in policy-making. Seminars use case studies of policy areas and key decisions to examine these issues and apply different approaches.
Indicative module syllabus
- Introduction: how is policy made?
- Success, failure and something in-between
- Electorally driven public policy
- Institutionalism policy makes politics
- Critical junctures and punctuated equilibria
- Science in public policy-making
- Evidence in public policy-making
- Interests in public policy-making
- Multiple streams
- Policy paradigms
Learning objectives
On completing the module you will:
- have developed detailed knowledge of the different actors, processes and stages involved in formulating public policies in liberal democracies
- have acquired a critical understanding of the main theories of the policy process
- be able to apply theories and models to contemporary policy issues
- understand the institutional features of policy-making, with a particular sensitivity to the role of different levels of governance (local, national and European).