Year 2010-11

Public Policy I (21665)

  

Qualification: Degree in Political and Administration Sciences
Year: 2nd
Term: 3rd
Number of ECTS credits: 6 credits
Hours of student dedication: hours
Teaching language: Catalan and Spanish
 

 

 

1. Introduction to the course

 

This course introduces students to the study of public policy, setting out the main conceptual and methodological approaches and their application in practice.  The aim is to enable students to acquire the necessary analytical tools to evaluate the reasons and mechanisms by which given problems are added to a governments' political agenda, the way in which problems are defined and the solutions that are adopted across different socioeconomic, political and institutional contexts.

  

2. Competences to be achieved

 

The generic competences to be achieved are:

 

-          Ability to analyse and synthesise

-          Oral and written communication

-          Ability to criticise and be self critical

-          Ability to apply knowledge to practical contexts

 

The specific competences to be achieved are:

 

-          Ability to plan, implement, evaluate and analyse public policies.  This competence will allow students to know the different phases of a public policy and identify the processes by which decisions are made, and the alternative ways political objectives can be met. 

 

Course specific knowledge (to know):

 

-          To know the theory behind the analysis of public policy

-          To know the approaches to governance

-          To know the principles of political and public leadership

-          To know the processes through which public decisions are made

 

Professional knowledge (to know how to):

-          Design strategies and action plans for the implementation of public policies.

-          To know how to carry out an evaluation of a given public intervention.

-          To know how to mobilize and coordinate resources, actors, and necessary networks to implement policies.

  

3. Contents

 

In the first part of the course, students will study the foundations of political action and the role of the state in modern societies. 

 

In the second part students will revise the academic contributions that have been most influential in the analysis of the nature of public policies and identify the main factors that explain the diversity in political models adopted across different countries and their historical evolution. That is 1) actors, their interest and motivations, 2) interaction, negotiation and networks, 3) institutions, 4) social classes and their political representation. 

 

The third part of the course will focus on analysing the mechanisms by which public policy is carried out,  the social political and economic factors that affect the choice of policy in practice and the institutional and political viability of its implementation. 

 

Finally, decision making processes will be studied briefly. The main analytical models to understand selection, negotiation and implementation of policies in practice will be presented.  It is expected that by the end of the course, students are able to analyse a given public policy in a critical way, applying different concepts to understand its origin, nature and evolution.

  

4. Assessment

 

Students' knowledge of the topics covered, participation in class and ability to apply the acquired knowledge to empirical cases will be assessed.  Students´ ability to work in a group and sustained participation throughout the course will also be positively evaluated.    The final grade will take into account three aspects:

 

-          Attendance and participation in seminars

-          Written exercises set during the course

-          Tests and a final exam

 

5. Readings and resources

  

5.1. basic bibliography

 

• Aguilar Villanueva, L. F. La hechura de las políticas. Porrúa, 1996.
• Castles, F. Comparative public policy. Patterns of post-war transformation, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar, 1999.
• Castles, F. The impact of parties, London, SAGE, 1982.
• Chaques Bonafont, Laura, Redes de políticas públicas, Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2004.
• Hubert, Evelyn, Ragin, Charles and Stephen, John "Social democracy, Christian democracy, constitutional structure and the welfare state", American Journal of Sociology 99:3 (1993), p. 711-749.
• Jordana, J. "El análisis de los policy networks: ¿una nueva perspectiva sobre la relación entre políticas públicas y Estado?, Gestión y Análisis de Políticas Públicas, 3, 1995.
• Jordana, J. and D. Levi-Faur (2004) (eds.), The Politics of Regulation, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
• Korpi, W. "Power resource and employer-centred approaches in explanations of welfare status and varieties of capitalism", World Politics 58, (2006), p. 167-206.
• Korpi, W. and Palme, J. "New politics and class politics", American Political Science Review 97:3 (2003).
• Majone, G. Evidencia, argumentación y persuasión en la formulación de políticas públicas, FCE, 1997.
• Majone, G. "From the Positive to the Regulatory State. Causes and Consequences of Changes in the Mode of Governance", Journal of Public Policy, vol. 17, p. 139-67.
• March, James G. and Olsen, Johan P. "El nuevo institucionalismo: factores organizativos de la vida política", in Zona Abierta 63-64 (1993), p. 1-22.
• Meny, Y. and Thoenig, J.C. Las políticas públicas, Barcelona, Ariel, 1992.
• Navarro, V. "Why some countries have national health insurance, others have national health services, and the United States has neither", International Journal of Health Services 19:3 (1989), p. 383-404.
• Navarro, V. Bienestar insuficiente, democracia incompleta, Barcelona: Anagrama.
• Parsons, W. Public Policy. An introduction to the theory and practice of policy analysis, Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1995.
• Pierson, Paul: "The new politics of the welfare state", World Politics 48:2 (1996) 143-179.
• Sabatier, P. A. and Jenkins-Smith, H.C. Policy change and learning. An advocacy coalition approach, Westview Press, 1993.
• Scharpf, F. Games real actors play. Actor-centred institutionalism in policy research, Oxford: Westview Press, 1997.
• Skocpol, Theda "State formation and social policy in the United States", American Behavioral Scientist 3:6 (1992), p. 559-584.
• Weaver, R.K. and Rockman, B.A. Do institutions matter? Governement capabilities in the United States and abroad, Washington DC: The Brookings Institution.
• Weir, Margaret and Skocpol, Theda "Las estructuras del Estado: una respuesta "keynesiana" a la Gran Depresión" Zona Abierta 63/64, (1993), p. 73-153.



5.2. Educational Resources

 

• Case study material on specific policy cases studied will be posted in the aula global for students to be able to prepare for and follow the course.

  

6. Methodology

 

The course will consist of a two hour weekly lecture and a one hour weekly seminar.

 

In the lectures, the main concepts for each topic will be presented, giving students a wide overview of existing literature, theoretical approaches and their empirical application.

 

In the seminars, students will discuss how each of the topics covered can be used in the analysis of a given public policy.  Students should get the relevant information and material for each seminar from the aula global.  Completing the required reading and participation in class will be evaluated.

 

7. Programme of activities

  

Week 1. Introduction to the idea of public policy. Introduction to the general course structure. 1) the foundations of public action and its historical evolution, 2) factors that explain the nature of public policies (actors, institutions, social classes), 3) Public policy in practice (tools available and decision making processes)

  

week 2. Introduction to public policy. Public policy cycles and their analysis. From the formulation of a problem to the implementation of a policy. Why do some problems become relevant and in what way: brief discussion on defining a problem and the creation of public policy agendas.

  

Week 3. Public policies, the role of the state and the division between public and private. The historical creation of a public intervention sphere. The minimalist perspective from an economics point of view: public goods and the fundamental failure of markets to intervene. A wider perspective: political issues, ethics and cultures in defining the role of the state. Limits: government errors.

  

Week 4. Public policy history and the role of the state in the developed world. The main economic and philosophical approaches to the role of the state in public policy (liberalism, Marxism, Keynesianism, neoliberalism). The history of the role of the state and public policy. The expansion of the welfare state and of public intervention in new areas. International comparisons.

  

Week 5. Rational choice and public choice. Approaches focusing on the rational actor and the search for individual interest: rational choice and public choice. The role of actors in defining the content of public policy. Public policy as an aggregate of individual preferences. Rationality and self-interest in the definition of the motives, interest and preferences of actors and groups. Bureaucracy and public choice: the minimalist state as an alternative. The Institutionalist approach to rational choice: actor-centred institutionalism.

 

Week 6. Actors, negotiation and policy networks. Actors interaction and its importance in policy making. Policy networks: characteristics, continuity, institutionalization. The interdependence of actors and state-society exchanges. Advocacy coalitions and their importance in the transfer of policy ideas across sectors and countries.

  

Week 7. Distribution of power, social classes and political representation. The power of social classes and their effects on the role of the state and the nature of public policies. Political representation and the distribution of power among social classes as the basis for the development of distributive policies and social welfare. Political parties and ideology and its impact on public policy. International experiences and the empirical evaluation of the connection between social classes, political power and public policy.

  

Week 8. New institutionalism, institutional constraints and path dependency.
The role of institutions as rules of the political game. The creation of a framework for action and the distribution of power, interests and motivations among actors and groups. Institutions as independent variables, their importance in defining policy choices and the results obtained. The state as a semi-autonomous structure. The Institutionalist explanation of change: institutional constraints, path dependence, and different evolutions.

  

Week 9. Public policy implementation tools.  Alternative public policy designs to achieve specific objectives. The difference between regulatory and redistributive tools. Political conditions that determine the selection of tools. Economic reforms at the end of the last century and the change towards intervention tools, from positive State to regulatory State?

  

Week 10. Decision-making. Pure rationalism and from political science to the search for the social "optimum". Bounded rationality and the search for satisfactory alternatives.  The importance of negotiations: the politics of "muddling through" and incremental decision making. Context, information and cognitive restraints. The importance of consensus and agreement.