Programme overview

What is a “public policy”? This is a complex concept with many ways of defining it. Overall, public policies are what institutions DO, often in partnership with private actors, in order to face collective problems, such as unemployment, health, poverty, migration and so on.

Public policy investigates several questions: Why some problems comes to the fore while others not? How do actors interact in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of public policies? Why it is so hard to change a long-term established policy, even though it is not working? Why do public policies change at a certain point? And what are the key challenges for public policies in the 21st century and the current troubling times? 

These are just some of the questions which our course explores. The course will provide students with a strong grounding in public policy by examining the relevant literature and the most contemporary debates which will be analyzed through concrete real-life examples, as opposed to a purely theoretical engagement.

Module aims

• To introduce students to the analytical tools they need to understand continuity, change and cross-national variation in public policy.
• To demonstrate the value of the comparative method in the analysis of public policy.
• To provide students with a high-level understanding of the politics behind public policymaking.
• To lay the foundations for empirically substantiated and critical evaluation of the actions of governments.
• To give students the opportunity to apply theories of public policy and the comparative method to the analysis of contemporary public policy challenges.
• To provide students with the right skills for their growth trajectory in public policy and facilitate their transition into the world of work.