Seminar Global Policy Analysis

Global Policy Analysis Professor Frank Fischer Rutgers and Kassel Universities Email: ffischer@rutgers.edu This block seminar examines the basic political dynamics of the public policymaking process with a focus on global policy issues. As such, it seeks to extend the concepts and methods of public policy analysis, mainly developed in the context of national and foreign policy, to the rapidly emerging topic of global public policy. This extension and comparison is employed to both understand the policy-analytical process, and at the same time, explore the nature and requirements of the emerging realm of global policymaking and implementation. Toward this end, the course materials examine the politics of each phase of the policy-making process, from the politics of agenda setting (emphasizing the role of the media and movements), policy formulation (including epistemic policy communities), policy decision-making and adoption (elitists versus pluralist models), implementation (and bureaucratic politics), and policy evaluation (technocratic versus constructivist approaches), and the political of termination. In the process, the course gives special attention to the kinds of knowledge and inquiry appropriate to each phase of the policy process. Along the way, the role of theoretical models and the methods appropriate to the various theoretical orientations are examined, including the advocacy coalition model, rational choice theory, the liberal-institutional perspective, and the discourse approach. The contemporary debates between positivist and postpositivist/ postempiricist approaches to policy inquiry are also explored. In the context of the postpositivist orientation, particular emphasis will be given to discourse and the -argumentative turn -in policy analysis. Requirements: l Take-home examination (exam questions are related to class readings and discussion and distributed in advance as the course proceeds) l Each student should 6 reaction papers to be turned in on the day of the session (1-2 pages in length). To successfully complete the course, students must submit a minimum of 4 reaction papers. Students who turn in 6 will have one final exam question less than those who do not. l Optional class presentation. A class presentation will also reduce the take-home questions but one questions. FB 05 Gesellschaftswissenschaften Uni Kassel WiSe 2011/12 Professor Fischer Frank Professor