Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
Many graduates in public policy go on to work in organisations that produce or consume policy advice, and governments are increasingly in need of high quality policy advice as they grapple with complex social, environmental and economic policy issues. In this light, the course aims to enable students to produce and evaluate policy advice. Students should develop the capacity to perform basic policy analysis and to provide policy advice on the basis of this. Students should also develop the ability to critically assess the validity of different forms of policy advice and the constraints on those offering and receiving it. While the course introduces students to the technical steps of policy analysis (including problem definition, construction of policy alternatives and outcome projections), it also recognises policy analysis and advice as a fundamentally political activity. The course hence exposes students to literature on policy advice as rational-technical exercise, as well as literature on the politics of policy advice. Students will conduct policy analyses and produce policy advice by working on real-world policy cases in teams over several weeks. In the final summative assessment students will apply the tools of policy analysis to a real-world policy issue of their choosing.
Subject content
Academic and graduate skills
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Ongoing oral feedback through seminars and feedback and guidance hours. Written feedback within five weeks of submission.
Bardach, E. and Patashnik, E. M. (2015). A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Scott, C. and Baehler, K. (2012). Adding Value to Policy Analysis and Advice. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.
Stone, D. (2012). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision-Making. New York : W.W. Norton & Co.
Weimer, D. L. and Vining, A. R. (2010). Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practice. Boston: Longman