300146 Introduction to Policy Analysis (S) (SoSe 2017)

UNIT DESCRIPTION

Rather than examining the big questions in political science about war and peace (asked in international relations) or the condition of democracy (examined in political theory), policy analysts examine collectively binding public policies: how do issues such as environmental protection, migration, nuclear safety, employment or poverty emerge as requiring policy responses in the first place? What goals and (conflicting) meanings are vested in policies and why? Who is involved in policy-making? How are policies designed and which tools do they involve? Under which circumstances are they adopted and (how) are they contested in the political and societal realm? How (successfully) are policies communicated and implemented and which intended and unintended consequences do they herald, for example with regard to social inequality or public security? How and why do policies change across time and space? With this wide range of rather practice-oriented (though often explicitly critical) questions policy science has established itself as an important subfield within political sciences, including strong disciplinary influences also from, inter alia, sociology, economics, cultural studies and critical human geography. Due to its practice orientation policy analysis has also increasingly operated at the interface of critical academic and political consultancy work, involving a growing number of job opportunities for social sciences graduates.

This course offers an introductory overview of policy analysis, including historical foundations and its genesis in the German context, key concepts, and main analytical and methodological approaches. To illustrate approaches we will discuss examples from migration policy, social policy and risk regulation. The course aims to provide students with a sound knowledge of main concepts, approaches and controversies in policy analysis and to facilitate their own critical application of policy analysis to empirical material.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Knowledge:

By the end of this course, you should

• know about the origins of policy analysis as a sub-discipline in political science and understand the genesis of policy analysis in Germany,
• be familiar with key concepts, approaches and controversies in policy analysis.

Skills:

By the end of this course, you should

• be able to identify, compare and critically assess different approaches to policy analysis,
• be able to analyse contemporary policies with different policy analysis approaches.

Bibliography

Fischer, F., Miller, G. J., and Sidney, M. S. (eds) (2007) Handbook of Public Policy Analysis : Theory, Politics, and Methods (Boca Raton: CRS Press)