SDG Detail

POLITICS 222 : Public Policy: Actors, Processes and Politics

Undergraduate course

Project 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 globalisation 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 as well as the foundational role of the Te Tiriti/ the Treaty of Waitangi in Aotearoa New Zealand..

Year 2022

Location New Zealand

Organization University of Auckland

Project aims

Project outcome

1. Develop an understanding of what public policies are and how they relate to broader issues of politics and power. (Capability 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, 4.2, 5.1 and 6.1) 2. Recognise different policy instruments and the theoretical basis for each (Capability 1.2, 2.3, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1 and 6.3) 3. Identify and critically evaluate how policy actors and processes have evolved, and why this matters (Capability 1.2, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1) 4. Explain the importance of and difference between various policy issue areas (Capability 1.1, 2.3, 3.1, 4.1, 5.2 and 6.1) 5. Be able to write a policy brief (Capability 1.2, 2.3, 3.2, 4.2, 5.2 and 6.3) 6. Be able to critically discuss and analyse a range of policy issues (Capability 1.1, 2.2, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1 and 6.1) 7. Effectively communicate arguments in written and oral form. (Capability 1.2, 2.3, 3.2, 4.2 and 5.1)