Policy Research and Advice

Course goals

By the end of this course students will be able to:

• Identify theories, concepts and models of public policy making in governance networks
• Identify contemporary social problems and trends in public policy
• Distinguish between major strands and methods in policy studies
• Assess the quality of concrete policy research
• Reconstruct, interpret and ultimately evaluate concrete policy (programs or interventions and underlying assumptions or program theory)
• Formulate coherent policy recommendations based on supporting evidence

Content

In this course students will acquire knowledge and skills that are needed to reconstruct, interpret, analyse and evaluate policy programs in governance networks and will formulate policy recommendations based on empirical evidence, while keeping in mind the historical, institutional and political contexts of specific policies. In this first course within the master program “Contemporary Social problems” students will be introduced to a number of contemporary social problems, related policies and policy dilemma’s. Students will acquire sensitivity for different “logics” and "complexities" in public policy.

Next to the core lectures students will attend masterclasses by practitioners from differing policy fields. Both are on a weekly basis.

Students will complete exams centered around the masterclasses and will write a policy evaluation report in which they will use multiple methods to evaluate a current policy and formulate appropriate policy recommendations based on their analysis. The course concludes with a mini-conference where students do poster presentations of their policy reports.