Insegnamento a.a. 2018-2019

The course is divided in two main blocks:

First block: 

• The first block of the course addresses a provocative claim: How does representative government function when those who implement public policy have the authority to reshape democracy? The focus, then, is on both policy formation and implementation and the tension between the goals as well as the democratic values important in each stage.
• To address this question, we study the theory of democracy, and focus most of our attention on the tensions between two major approaches to it: popular accountability through selection and sanction of representatives and deliberative democracy. This allows us to catalog a set of democratic values important to making and implementing policy.
• We then develop a framework for evaluating the democratic consequences of various elements of the policy process. Specifically, our framework aims to assess when the accountability and process values of representative democracy are enhanced or obviated by particular structures for making and implementing policies. We employ our framework to analyse cases in various contexts.

Second block:

• The second block of the course applies the framework developed just before to examine main trajectories of government reforms with respect to tensions with democratic values. In particular, emphasis is given to reforms informed:
  • By managerialist ideas and principles of competition and accountability for results.
  • By ideas of citizens’ and private actors’ involvement in government and principles of transparency and collaboration/partnership.
• We move to examine some innovative trends in government including evidence-based policy, behaviorally-informed policies (i.e. nudging), policy experimentalism and policy evaluation, and critically assess these trends with respect to the values of representative democracy.
• In each lesson we discuss together concrete examples of these trends drawn from current events.

• Understand the core claims of theories of democracies.
• Think carefully and critically about the democratic systems in which they live and work.
• Understand various forms of policy processes and political institutions.

• Understand how democracy and the making of policies interact.
• Identify the values with which democracy competes in policy making.
• Assess democracy against claims about how to make and implement public policies.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Interactive class activities (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

In addition to lecture-discussion sessions, the class includes occasional structured debates between groups of students.

Attending students are assessed on the basis of two examinations: partial (50%) and final (50%). Both examinations are constituted of short essay questions.

Non-attending students are assessed on the basis of a final examination only (100%). Additional mandatory readings (i.e. readings which are not required for attending students) are assigned and covered on the exam, which are constituted of short- and medium-length essay questions.

To be decided at the beginning of the course. All materials are made available on the Bboard site for the course.

To be decided at the beginning of the course. All materials are made available on the Bboard site for the course.