This course is an introduction to theories, approaches, and methods for comparative public policy analysis. These include how politics and institutions shape public policy, the evaluation of policies and the role of scientific evidence for public policy. The scope of the course is global, with applications and examples from countries around the world.
The course will introduce students to fundamental social-scientific concepts like power, collective action, institutions, and accountability, as well as tools useful for the understanding and evaluation of policy implementation and effectiveness. The course will enable students to understand the trade-offs involved in the design of policies and institutions; the influence of factors like partisanship, public opinion and interest groups; as well as reforms that attempt to improve government efficiency, representation, and transparency. The course will also give students the conceptual tools to be able to analyse specific policy issue areas of their interest, and understand the complex forces that shape policy change.
The first section of the course focusses on the pivotal actors, such as public opinion, interest groups and parties, involved in policy design and implementation. However, public policy increasingly involves multiple levels of governance. In the final part of section one we accordingly discuss public policies in multilevel systems and policies targeting global challenges.
In the second section of the course we discuss the evaluation of public policy by introducing the role scientific methods to provide evidence for the guidance of effective policy solutions. We discuss a specific scientific debate about the policy of deworming as a paradigmatic case in order to demonstrate how complex the relationship between scientific evidence and policy can be.
Overall, the course will familiarize the participants with key concepts in the international comparison of public policy, evaluate empirical evidence on complex relationships such as scientific evidence and public policy. Furthermore, the course motivates the reflection on empirical verification strategies, methodological challenges and solutions and encourages to come up with own empirical research strategies our measurement ideas (predominantly in the term papers, podcasts and presentations). Throughout the course, various (online)tools will be used to trigger interaction and reflect on the students’ perspectives and learning progress.
- Dozent/in: Leonce Röth