2275.22 - Politics and Public Policy


Course number
2275.22
Title
Politics and Public Policy
ECTS
10
Prerequisites
Upper secondary education and having passed the course Introduction to Political Science
Purpose
The purpose of the course is to provide students with insights in how political systems work. The course covers different institutional conditions and systems, political actors, and different perspectives on how to understand policy outputs.
Content
The course covers themes of importance to classical political science: • institutional political contexts and differences in this respect • political demands and political processes • delegation of power • government and parliament and their interplay • political actors (political parties and interest organisations) • election systems, voters, and influence on political parties The course also consists of themes related to public policy: • public policy and policy tools • political agenda setting • different theories that explain policy outcome, the result of policy processes Also, the course considers the specific Faroese political and institutional settings.
Learning and teaching approaches
Teaching is arranged as a mix of lectures and active teaching where the student participates in group work, by solving minor written assignments, and by participating in analysing topics in the classroom. Also, students hold presentations.
Learning outcomes
On completion of the course, students must be able to: - formulate and argue for relevant research questions related to course themes - define relevant concepts and analyse theory relevant for the investigation of the research question - to identify relevant empirical facts of importance to the research question and relate it to the investigation of the research question - analyse themes of importance to politics and public policy
Assessment method
The students choose two themes and formulate two research questions, which the teacher must approve. One research question for theme related to politics, and one for theme related to public policy. Students individually write two assignments of 2.500 words +/-10% each. The course provides one final grade where each assignment is weighted by ½.
Examination
External
Marking scale
7-
Bibliography
The reading list on about 1.000 pages can be found on the Moodle site
Contact
Hallbera Fríða West