O0PP 2620 - THE POLICY PROCESS: INSTITUTIONS, ACTORS AND DYNAMICS

Policy-making comes in processes. From public problem identification to implementation, via agenda-setting and formulation, every policy passes through a similar route. Yet it is doubtable whether a step-by-step model would still be capable of grasping policy-making in the current era. Citizen trust in government is declining. Party competition is eroding, and policy-makers are repeatedly faced with uncertainties, crises and disruptive events putting strong pressures on their overall capacity to govern. Nonetheless, some deep structures remain. Political institutions, administrative procedures and a sizeable array of (in)formal provisions often prove enduring and capable of absorbing even the most brutal shocks. On this basis, the goal of this course is to equip students to understand the policy process while it seems both more unpredictable than before and, simultaneously, where its foundations are still firmly entrenched. For this purpose, we cover basic (e.g. public problems, agenda-setting and bureaucratic politics) and advanced topics (loops and feedbacks, material and attitudinal effects of policies) through an integrative approach modelling the policy process in different contexts – namely, when it happens in its ‘normal', ‘political' and ‘crisis' modes.

Cyril BENOIT

Séminaire

English

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Aucun

Autumn 2023-2024

Oral Presentation, Oral Participation, Paper due for the last class session

Lecture (1 hour) and class discussions based on real-world examples (1 hour)