30484 - TOPICS IN POLITICS II
Department of Social and Political Sciences
LANNY MARTIN
Mission & Content Summary
MISSION
CONTENT SUMMARY
The course focuses on policymaking institutions, and policy design and implementation.
Specifically, one part of the course deals with:
(1) the conceptual notion of substantive policy representation in democracies
(2) the ways in which executive, legislative, and judicial institutions work to enhance such representation.
Another part of the course deals with real cases of policy design and implementation, and policy evaluation.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
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Identify the goals of substantive policy representation and the problems with achieving it
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Explain how different types of legislative, executive, and judicial institutions enhance or diminish the possiblity of attaining meaningful policy representation
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Summarize the role of policy research and design
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Identify common problems in policy implementation
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Summarize the proces of policy evaluation
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
- Express the goals of, and problems with, insitutions that are designed to deliver policies to citizens
- Explain the pitfalls of policy design, implementation, and evaluation and state ways in which the process can be improved.
Teaching methods
- Face-to-face lectures
- Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
- Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
- Group assignments
DETAILS
- Guest speaker's talks will concern cases in policy design, implementation, and evaluation; these talks are linked to specific case studies assigned to the class
- Group assignments will entail students engaging in legislative policy debates and executive coalition building, wherein each group represents a political party trying to achieve the best policy outcomes for their respective consituencies.
Assessment methods
Continuous assessment | Partial exams | General exam | |
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ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Group projects
- Active class participation, which is particularly important for evaluation of case studies
- Final written exam covering course material
NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
- Final written exam covering course material
Teaching materials
ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS
The required readings for this course will be scientific articles, book chapters and policy reports that represent the key and/or state of the art contributions to the different topics analyzed. A complete list of the required and suggested reading is provided at the beginning of the course and is available on Bboard.