Course syllabus

Jump to today

 

arts-logo.png

 

POLITICS 222: Public Policy: Actors, Processes and Politics

SEMESTER 2, 2019

15 points

 
Instructor and Course coordinator:                                      

Gay Marie M. Francisco                                                                    

E-mail: Gaym.Francisco@auckland.ac.nz                             

Office Hours/Consultation: Fridays 3-5 pm                           

Office: HSB 828                                                                     

                                                                                                

Graduate Teaching Assistant:

Iris Li

Email: bli520@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Office Hours/Consultation:   Thursdays, 11 am -12:00 pm

Office: HSB 525

 

Lectures

Thursday 3:00 to 5:00 pm, Old Government House Lecture Theatre G36

 

Tutorials

T01C- Friday 9:00 am to 10:00 am 206-215 (Arts 1, Room 215)

T02C- Friday 10:00 am to 11:00 am 206-210 (Arts 1, Room 210)

T03C- Friday 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm 201E-508 (Human Sciences - East,Rm 508)

TO5C- Wednesday 10:00 am to 11:00 am 201E-902 (Human Sciences - East,Rm 902)

TO6C- Wednesday 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm 104-155 (Old Choral Hall, Room 155)

TO7C-Thursday 9:00 am to 10:00 am 273-107 (Fale - Office Building,Rm 107)

 

DESCRIPTION

 

This course is designed to enable development of a conceptual ‘tool-kit’ for the explanation and evaluation of public policy. The questions asked in this course include: Why does policy matter? Who makes policy and how? What impact does globalization have on the types of policies domestic governments deliver? The course examines the role of policy actors such as social movements, businesses, technical experts and government agencies, including the way in which the international economy and domestic political institutions shape policy outcomes, the recognition and diagnosis of policy problems, and the rationality of policy decision-making. We also delve more deeply into a series of important challenges in the following substantive policy areas: health, the environment, employment, families and the economy.

 

OBJECTIVES

On successful completion of this paper students will be able to:

 

  1. Understand what public policies are and how they relate to broader issues of politics and power;
  1. Recognize different policy instruments and the theoretical basis for each;
  2. Identify how policy actors and processes have evolved, and why this matters;
  3. Explain the importance of and difference between various policy issue areas;
  4. Write a policy brief;
  5. Critically discuss and analyse a range of policy issues;
  6. Effectively communicate their arguments in written and oral form.

 

STRUCTURE

The course material is delivered over a 12 week period. There will be a two-hour lecture each week and a one hour tutorial. In the latter you will review topics in further detail, receive assessment guidance. A detailed breakdown of the weekly lectures and readings is contained in the TALIS reading list in the menu on your left. Students are required to attend their tutorials having completed the assigned readings for the week. You should also be prepared to discuss the material with your classmates.

 

TUĀKANA

The Tuākana Arts programme is part of the University’s commitment to equitable outcomes for our Maori and Pacific students. If you have any concerns during the course, please get in touch here.

 

RESOURCES

                                        

Textbook

The textbook is Public Policy: A New Introduction, by Christoph Knill & Jale Tosun (2012). It is available at the UBS bookstore, on short loan in the General Library, or you can purchase an ebook copy.

 

Canvas

The course syllabus and assigned readings not in the required textbook is available in your reading list link on Canvas. Please ensure that your email address is current so that you receive updates.

Recommended

You may also find useful the 3rd edition of Shaw and Eichbaum’s Public Policy in New Zealand (Pearson, 2011) as well as Mulholland and Tawhai’s Weeping Waters (Huia, 2010) available at the UoA library.

 

ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

 

 

Value

Length

Due Date

Policy Brief

20%

700 words

23 August 4pm

Essay

30%

2000 words

18 October 4pm

Final Exam

50%

2 hours

TBA

 

Plussage DOES NOT apply in this course.

 

LECTURE SCHEDULE

 

    Week

Lecture

Lecture Dates & details

Week 1

Introduction

25 July No tutorials week 1

Week 2

Policies – agendas and goals

1 August Discussion hours start

Week 3

Actors 1 –  The State

8 August

Week 4

Actors 2 – Non-state & supra-state

15 August

Week 5

Applying ideas: Social Policy

22 August

Policy Briefs due 23 August

Week 6

Theories of public policy

29 August

Break

Mid-Semester Break

Monday 2 September –

Saturday 14 September 2019

Week 7

Applying ideas – Economic Policy

19 September

Week 8

Policy Instruments and Decision-making

26 September

Week 9

Applying ideas – Health Policy

3 October

Week 10

Implementation & Evaluation

10 October

Week 11

Applying ideas – Environmental Policy

17 October  Essays due 18 October

Week 12

Review & Summary

24 October

 

COURSEWORK DETAILS

 

All students are expected to have read and understood the latest version of the Department’s Coursework Guide.

 

TUTORIALS

 

A one-hour tutorial will be held each week, where students will develop their understanding of the material and assignments in more depth.

 

Students are expected to attend and to have completed the weekly readings and/or watched the audiovisual materials/documentaries (in the schedule below) PRIOR TO each discussion hour.  It is highly recommended that you arrive with a list of notes and/or questions (50-60 words maximum) on the readings, including key points and clarifying questions you may have.   These meetings are a crucial part of successfully completing this course. Tutorials help you to develop the ability to discuss and debate complex issues and deepen your understanding of the material. They also provide a space for learning how to properly construct and format your assignments. A schedule detailing the weekly readings can be found below.

 

READINGS SCHEDULE

 

Week 1: Introduction

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapter 1

 

Week 2: Agendas and Goals

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapters 2 & 5, re-read Chapter 1

 

Week 3: Actors - The State

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapter 3
  • *Richard Shaw and Chris Eichbaum (2011), ‘Chapter 3, The Constitution’, in Public Policy in New Zealand, Auckland: Pearson.

 

Week 4: Actors - Non-State & Supra-state

**Additional tutorial item this week—Policy briefs: elements and style**

 

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapter 10
  • *Thomas R. Rochon and Daniel A. Mazmanian (1993), ‘Social Movements and the Policy Process’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 528, pp. 75-87.

 

Week 5: Applying Ideas: Social Policy

 

 

Week 6: Theories of Public Policy

 

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapters 4 & 9

 

Week 7: Applying Ideas: Economic Policy

Dr Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy, Distinguished Professor Peter C.B. Phillips

 

Week 8: Policy Instruments and Decisionmaking

**Additional tutorial item this week—Research paper tips**

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapter 6, re-read Chapter 2
  • Bernard Choi, et al. "Can scientists and policymakers work together?" Journal of Epidemiology and community health 59, no. 8 (2005): 632-37.

 

 

Week 9: Applying Ideas: Health Policy

  • Brett Maclennan, Kypros Kypri, Robin Room, and John Langley, 'Local Government Alcohol Policy

Development: Case Studies in Three New Zealand Communities', Addiction (2012).

  • Fafard, P (2012) ‘Public health understandings of policy and power: lessons from INSITE’, Journal of

Urban Health, 89(6):905-14.

  • Jason McLure, ‘GM Foods, CQ Researcher, New York: Sage
  • Jenkin, G. L., Signal, L., & Thomson, G. (2011). Framing obesity: the framing contest between industry and public health at the New Zealand inquiry into obesity. Obesity Reviews, 12(12), 1022-1030.

 

Week 10: Implementation and Evaluation

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapters 7 & 8
  • Howlett, M. (2009). Policy analytical capacity and evidence‐based policy‐making: Lessons from Canada. Canadian public administration, 52(2), 153-175.

 

Week 11: Applying Ideas: Environmental Policy

**Additional tutorial item this week: course review and exam preparation**

  • When environmentalism and minimalism converge, WWF

https://blogs.wwf.org.uk/blog/green-sustainable-living/environmentalism-minimalism/

  • Buhrs, Ton, and Peter Christoff. (2006) "'Greening the Antipodes'? Environmental policy and politics in

Australia and New Zealand." Australian Journal of Political Science 41, no. 2: 225-40.

  • Neil Carter (2007), ‘The Environment as a Policy Problem’, chapter 7 in The Politics of the Environment. Ideas, Activism, Policy. 2nd Cambridge University Press, pp. 173-206.
  • SGI 2017 | Policy Performance | Environmental Policies | Environment

 

Weeks 12: Course Review

  • Read Textbook (Public Policy) Chapters 11 & 12

 

 

POLICY BRIEF (20%)

 

To be an effective policy analyst or policy researcher, whether it is as a public servant, ministerial adviser, lobbyist or citizen advocate, you will often be required to write some version of a research or policy brief/memo. Politicians, high-level bureaucrats and policy entrepreneurs have crowded agendas and operate under severe time constraints that limit their reading time to no more than a few minutes a day. As such, they need to have large amounts of information condensed, summarized with the key points and pertinent questions raised for them. Policy analysts perform an important role in briefing policy makers who are far more likely to read a condensed research brief that a full policy issue paper. (see W. Dunn, 2004, Public Policy Analysis, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey, chapter 9). The policy brief assignment here is designed to give you an opportunity at trying your hand at this kind of writing.

 

You are required to choose ONE of the policy reports from the list below and write a 700 word policy brief on it.

 

  • OECD Environmental Performance Review New Zealand 2017
  • OECD Economic Surveys - New Zealand 2017 Overview
  • Left Further Behind (Child Poverty Action Group)
  • Women in New Zealand: United Nations Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Eighth Periodic Report by the Government of New Zealand 2016)

  • The settlement experience of Pacific migrants in New Zealand: Insights from LISNZ and the IDI (2018)

 

Policy analysis typically involves reviewing hundreds of pages of previously published reports, newspaper and journal articles, summaries of interviews with stake holders and other key informants, copies of existing and model legislation and other policy issue papers and reports.

 

You need to review your chosen report and draw out the key arguments being made for policy change and why they are being advocated. If the report you have chosen is long, you should focus on one section or particular aspect of it to summarize for your audience. Note: summarize and not plagiarize. You need to put the information into your own words. You may borrow graphs or charts from the report (properly referenced), but the text must be your own.

In writing the brief you should be concise, focused and well-organised. You should start with an introductory paragraph outlining the policy problem, the evidence and the policy options that should be considered. You can draw from outside sources to evaluate background information in order to draw conclusions or recommendations, but the assignment is designed so that you spend less time on finding research materials and more on summarizing, synthesizing and developing new writing skills. If you do draw from or cite outside sources, do so in a ‘further information’ or ‘sources’ box at the end (as you will see in the samples).

More discussion about the brief will happen during tutorials in week 4, where you’ll see examples or policy briefs. There is no cookie-cutter formula, but they need to be free from jargon, appealingly presented, easy to scan and evidence (rather than opinion) based.

ESSAY (30%)

Students are also required to write a short research essay of 2000 words (+/- 10% is acceptable variation). The essay provides an opportunity for you to develop your understanding of materials covered in the course in more depth as well as to hone your written communication skills.  Essay assignments should conform to the department’s coursework guide, be thoroughly edited and logically constructed. Make sure to ground your essays in the theories and processes discussed in the course and give examples, where appropriate, to substantiate your arguments. You should draw on course readings, but go beyond these into your own research on the subject. As a general guide, you should reference at least 8 different academic sources for your paper. Research papers should also take into account competing arguments and definitions of an issue or concept. A rubric for assessment of the papers will be distributed in tutorials and time during your discussion hour in week 8 will be allocated to discussing this assignment.

 

Please remember when submitting your work:

  • ESSAYS in this course should be submitted via the link on Canvas, which connects to Turnitin.
  • Double space your essay;
  • Keep a copy of all work submitted;
  • Use either APA or Chicago referencing style, but be accurate and consistent
  • Late work will be penalised

ESSAY TOPICS FOR 2019:

  1. Housing is a significant policy issue in New Zealand in 2018. What problems have driven policy activity in this area? Has it been effective? What other approaches could be taken (at least 2)?
  2. The government of New Zealand has obligations to Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi. Examine and assess one policy area where improvements need to be made. How might the government address these issues?
  3. How can ‘evidence-based policymaking’ help enhance policymaking in New Zealand today? What, if any, are the limitations of this approach?
  4. Discuss the central institutions and actors participating in the policy-making process. Discuss the difference between public and private actors and give example of each by tackling an actual policy issue in New Zealand or your country of preference (as discussed with tutor or instructor).
  5. Another topic of interest to you with agreement of tutor or instructor. May include the study of policymaking in other countries, different policy problems or issues that relate to the course material.

 

LATE SUBMISSION OF COURSEWORK POLICY

Penalties – a loss of marks – will be applied in a sliding scale as follows:

  1. Essays submitted up to two days late will lose 5 marks
  2. Essays submitted three to five days late will lose 10 marks
  3. Essays submitted six to ten days late will lose 25 marks
  4. Essays submitted more than ten days past the due submission date will not be accepted and the student will be given a 0% mark for the essay.

Note: These regulations do not include approved extensions.  Such extensions are limited to documented special consideration cases or those with medical certificates. 

--------------------------

Original Course syllabus from Dr. Julie MacArthur

Revised for Semester 2 2019

 

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due