Public Policy: Interests, Ideas, Institutions
Overview
- Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
- Tutors: Ben Worthy, Patrick Coupar
- Assessment: to be confirmed
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
- Interests: the rational/unitary actor model, the bureaucratic politics model, policy networks
- Ideas: advocacy coalitions and epistemic communities, policy learning, ideas and policy change
- Institutions: the principal-agent model, historical institutionalism, non-functionalist delegation
- Institutional problems and reforms: political business cycle, regulation, privatisation, delegation to judicial and quasi-judicial bodies
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).