Formation/Cours

The objectives of this lecture are manyfold ; the student should be able to :
– Know the basic theoretical debates in the field of public policy analysis
– Mobilize concepts to analyze the different sequences of public policies
– Use public policy analysis to explore contemporary political and economic issues in France, in the USA and in the European Union

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Lecture 1 : Introduction: Public policy the policy/ politics dichotomy
Presentation of the course- What is public policy ? Where does public policy analysis come from ? Introducing the policy cycle.

Lecture 2 : Decision-making
Is the decision rational ? Who decides ? What are the motives of the decision ?

I. THE POLICY CYCLE

Lecture 3 : The construction of public problems
How do social issues become worthy of public/political attention ? What participants of the policy process are involved in the production of a problem ?

Lecture 4 : Agenda-setting
How and when does a problem reach the agenda ? How does it stay up the agenda ? Why does it go off the agenda ?

Lecture 5 : Implementation
Why are policy decisions not carried out in a straightforward manner (implementation gaps) ? Cases of policy failure. Two opposite perspectives : ‘Top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches.

Lecture 6 : Evaluation
What is policy evaluation and how does it differ from policy analysis ? How is policy evaluated ? How is knowledge produced to structure the practice of implementation and evaluation ?



II. THEORIES OF PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS

Determinants of public policy. What are the most useful theories or theoretical frameworks of policy analysis ? What are their main assumptions ? How do they conflict and/or combine with each other ?
Lecture 7 : Neo-institutionalism / Structural explanations
Lecture 8 : Ideas/ Rational choice theory ?

III. ACTORS OF POLICY-MAKING

Lecture 9 : Actors of policy-making : ‘politics-policy’ link + local public policy

Introducing the milieu décisionnel central (Grémion, 1979) ; politicization of the administration ; local public policy.


Lecture 10 : Extending the milieu décisionnel central (Grémion, 1979) Interest groups and social movements + The politics of expertise + Assessing the power of judicial actors

Interest groups and their relationship to State actors ; emergence of new social movements ; expertise and epistemic communities ; judicial activism