Course 2020-2021 a.y.

30484 - TOPICS IN POLITICS II

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Course taught in English
Go to class group/s: 31
BIG (3 credits - II sem. - OBS  |  SPS/04)
Course Director:
LANNY MARTIN

Classes: 31 (II sem.)
Instructors:
Class 31: LUCA DE ANGELIS


Mission & Content Summary

MISSION

This course analyzes the working of institutions critical to policymaking in modern democracies, including executives, legislatures, and courts. The course also aims to build upon more theoretical notions of economics, politics, and philosophy of governance and put them to test by dealing with real-life policy cases, concerning both policy design and implementation. The course is based on both academic empirical works and critical discussion of policy reports.

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

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • Identify the goals of substantive policy representation and the problems with achieving it

  • Explain how different types of legislative, executive, and judicial institutions enhance or diminish the possiblity of attaining meaningful policy representation

  • Summarize the role of policy research and design

  • Identify common problems in policy implementation

  • Summarize the proces of policy evaluation

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

At the end of the course student will be able to...
  • 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
  • Written individual exam (traditional/online)
    x
  • Group assignment (report, exercise, presentation, project work etc.)
    x
  • Active class participation (virtual, attendance)
    x
  • Peer evaluation
    x

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. 

Last change 14/12/2020 13:19