Study location	Netherlands, Maastricht
Type	Summer Courses, Full-time
Nominal duration	1 week (2 ECTS)
Study language	English
Course code	MSS2025

Tuition fee	€299 one-time

Entry qualification	Enrolled as an Undergraduate student or Undergraduate diploma The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original.

Language requirements	English The language of the course is English, so we expect a fluent level and the ability to follow and participate in class.

More information	maastrichtsummerschool.nl

Overview

Course Description
The world of policy and politics, governance and government can be murky with seemingly transparent and tangled connections. Who gets to define the agenda, what type of policy will come to the fore and who is accountable? This course sheds light on some of these concepts using the work of respected authors in the field. It allows learners to understand how a critical analytic and descriptive framework can help understand who is involved in the policy process, how it operates and ultimately leads to a discussion about who is accountable. The answers to these questions help lay a solid foundation for further exploration of policy analysis and formation in other courses. The course is divided into four units. The first unit serves as an introduction to public policy. The second unit introduces in detail the structure of the public policy cycle as defined by Paul Cairney. Unit three is dedicated to the actors in the policy arena and their decision-making process. Finally, unit four introduces the topics of accountability and policy evaluation.

Goals
By the end of the course students should be able to:
• Understand the distinction between policy and politics; government and governance.
• Understand how the national political discourse affects policy making and decision making.
• Understand the stages of the policy cycle and their interactions.
• Be able to think critically about the actors in the policy making process in their own country and the influences and motivations they may have in the policy process.
• Be able to distinguish between outputs and outcomes, monitoring and evaluation.
• Understand the importance and relevance of the policy process and all stages of the policy cycle, thereby laying an important foundation for the next course on the techniques for monitoring and evaluation.
• Overall, the student should be able to critically reflect on the literature provided and be able to distil this knowledge into their own country’s context.

Recommended Literature
• Paul Cairney (2011), Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues, 2nd Edition, Red Globe Press, Chapter 3. Pdf is available on canvas.
• Gyu-Jin Hwang, “When the Solution becomes the Problem: Policy Reversals in Korea and Japan” in Michael Hill (ed.) (2014), Studying Public Policy: An International Approach. Policy Press maastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/893927983 Christopher Bryant, << Government versus Governance: structure versus process >>, Echo Géo [Online], 43| 2018, Online since 22 March 2018, connection on 04May 2019. journals.openedition.org/echogeo/15288
• Dani Rodrik (2018), “Is Populism Necessarily Bad Economics?.” AEA Papers andProceedings, 108:196-99 maastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/7666207764
• Michael Hill (2013), The Public Policy Process – Sixth Edition.Routledge, Chapter 9. www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Public+Policy+Process+michael+hill&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_nossv
• John L. Campbell (2002). Ideas, Politics and Public Policy. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 28, 21-38. www.jstor.org/stable/3069233 Francis Fukuyama, Identity (2019) [video], www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZBsALaVys
• Hughes, A., & Condon, L. (2016). Street-level bureaucracy and policy implementation in community public health nursing: a qualitative study of the experiences of student and novice health visitors. Primary healthcare research & development, 17(6), 586-598. www.cambridge.org/core/journals/primary-health-care-research-and-development/article/streetlevel-bureaucracy-and-policy-implementation-in-community-public-health-nursing-a-qualitative-study-of-the-experiences-of-student-and-novice-health-visitors/41858534D07CC149DE51367DC29DEE96
• Meltsner, A. J. (1972). Political feasibility and policy analysis. Publicadministration review, 859-867. maastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/5791147240
• Saks McManaway, K. (2020). Week 6 – Multiple Streams Framework [video]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TtNv2gHUec
• John W. Kingdon (1984), Agendas, alternatives, and public policies .Little, Brown, Chapters 1. Pdf available on canvas.
• Michael Hill, Frédéric Varone (2017), The Public Policy Process – Seventh Edition. Routledge, Chapters 9, 11, and 15. This book is not available, at this link you can order the book www.amazon.com/s?k=The+Public+Policy+Process+michael+hill&language=en_US&ref=nb_sb_nossv
• Rainer Eising (2013), Theories of Policy Formulation. ZEI, Center for European Integration Studies. www.zei.uni-bonn.de/de/publikationen/medien/wai-zei-paper/wai-zei-paper2013_7.pdf
• Thomas R. Dye(2013), Understanding Public Policy: Pearson New International Edition. Pearson Higher Ed., Chapter 3. This book is not available, at this link you can order the book www.amazon.com/Understanding-Public-Policy-15th-Thomas/dp/0134169972
• Fischer, F., & Miller, G. J. (Eds.). (2017).Handbook of public policy analysis: theory, politics, and methods. Routledge, Chapter 6. Available via interlibrary loan requestmaastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1100514868.
• Cutler, T. (2007). A necessary complexity: history and public-management reform. History & Policy. www.historyandpolicy.org/policy-papers/papers/a-necessary-complexity-history-and-public-management-reform
• Buse, Kent, Mays, Nicholas, Walt, Gill (2012), Making Health Policy. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), Chapter 2 (“Power and the policy process”). maastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/990668631
• Amitai Etzioni (1967), Mixed-Scanning: A “Third” Approach to Decision-Making, Public Administration Review, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 385-392. www.researchgate.net/publication/235356796_Mixed-scanning_A_Third_Approach_to_Decision-making
• Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page (2014), Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens. maastrichtuniversity.on.worldcat.org/oclc/9974530359
• John W. Kingdon (1984), Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. Little, Brown, Chapters 1-3. Pdf available on canvas.
• William N. Dunn (2015), Public policy analysis – Fifth Edition. Routledge, Chapter 6. Available as a pdf on Canvas.
• Cohen, M., March, J., & Olsen, J. (1972), A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1-25. doi:10.2307/2392088. www.jstor.org/stable/2392088?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Teaching Methods
Interactive Class, Lectures, PBL Tutorials, Presentations

Assessment Methods
Assignment, Attendance, Oral exam, Participation

Course Coordinator
Mindel van de Laar & Diana Owuor via UNU-MERIT