Insegnamento a.a. 2026-2027

Classes: 14 (I sem.)

Instructors:
Class 14: PAOLO ROBERTO GRAZIANO

Politics and Policy-Making allows the students to understand political processes by focusing on the different actors, interests and institutions which are part of contemporary political systems. More specifically, the course provides the main analytical tools needed to understand the nature of policy-making and public management in multi-level settings. The first part of the course addresses issues such as politics and political systems, the policy cycle, stakeholder analysis, models of public administration and public management. The second part of the course will focus on patterns of decision-making in multi-level contexts with a special focus on the European Union and environmental and social policies. The interaction among public institutions, political actors and decision-making processes are discussed using political science methodological tools and analytical approaches.

Comparative public policy analysis

Political systems

Political parties

Interest groups

Actors' mapping

Policy process

Agenda setting

Formulation

Adoption

Implementation

Evaluation

Multilevel governance

Sustainability

EU environmental policies

Populist policy-making

Global governance

 

 

 

At the end of the course student will be able to...

   

• Identify the various components of a political systems
•  Contextualize the policy processes
•  Identify the main policy contexts and issues
•  List the actors involved in a given policy process
•  Recognize interests involved in a given policy process
•  Illustrate the political strategies of political actors playing a specific policy game

At the end of the course student will be able to...

• Lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Individual works / Assignments
• Collaborative Works / Assignments
• Interaction/Gamification

Lectures will introduce and develop the main topics of Exercises will focus on actors’ mapping, on the understanding of the policy phase and the policy content

Group assignments will be focused on identifying the policy actors involved in a given policy, describe the policy process, identify the interests and interactions of the various actors involved, develop policy recommendations.

	Continuous assessment	Partial exams	General exam
Written individual exam (traditional/online)			x
Collaborative Works / Assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)	x

· With the purpose of measuring the acquisition of the above-mentioned learning outcomes, the students’ assessment includes a written exam and an individual/group assignment.

· The exam consists in four open questions: three are aimed at verifying the knowledge acquisition of the students, whereas the fourth is aimed at evaluating the full understanding of stakeholder mapping, policy phasing and policy content identification

· Individual/group assignments account for 40% of the final grade. The exam accounts for the remaining 60%.

 

- M. Howlett, M. Ramesh and A. Perl (2020), Studying Public Policy: Principles and Processes (4th edition), Oxford University Press - Coursepack (made available on BB)