NSCPHD1246 Bureaucratic Encounters – Front Line and District Civil Service and Development
The state and its bureaucrats in developing societies have a bad name. They are often, quite perfunctorily, dismissed as dysfunctional, weak, or failed. Often labels such as ‘corruption’ essentialize and homogenize an immense variation of practices. Public service is often inadequate, often it departs from formal rules, often it harbours rent- seekers, and there are countless examples of in-just, in-equitable and inefficient operations. Yet, bureaucracies also deliver some service, improvise around impossible rules, demonstrate dedication and operate despite poor resources. It takes very little to see that states and bureaucracies in developing societies do not look like the imagined ideals of developed states. In fact, no states look like the ideal when closely inspected, and rather than measuring the distance from a normative ideal, it is important to investigate how states and bureaucracies actually work. Recent research that focuses on actual bureaucratic practices reveal that variations between and within countries are considerable, and generally many competing interests and logics are at play.
The population generally ‘meets the state’ in the form of local and district bureaucracies. Policies, reforms, and the everyday delivery of education, health, extension, and policing manifest themselves at the local level. And taxation is often a very tangible encounter with public authority. It is therefore important to develop analytical concepts and research methods that will allow a systematic inquiry into the bureaucratic encounter at the local and district levels.
This PhD course responds to a growing demand for guidance and feedback from PhD students who are developing their thesis within this field of research. We want to bring together PhD students from a number of disciplines in social sciences with some of the protagonists of the current debate on how ‘states work’ in the encounter between public servants and the citizens. Through lectures by leading researchers in this field and the in-depth discussion of PhD student’s research papers, the PhD course provides a key opportunity for PhD students to present and discuss their work with senior researchers in the field.
The learning objectives of the course are:
- That participants are knowledgeable about major contributions to the study of bureaucracies, i.e. understand differences and similarities in their scope, methodological approach, and findings
- That participants are able to critically assess their own and others’ work on bureaucracies and deliver constructive criticism to their peers
Letters of acceptance, a full programme for the course, and the course readings will be emailed to participants.
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 20
- Preparation
- 70
- Project work
- 50
- Total
- 140
Apply by sending a 1 page CV and a 1000 words outline of the research paper you want to discuss at the course. This outline should specify how your PhD project relates to the overall theme of this course and give clear indications on the theoretical and methodological approach adopted. Applications should be sent to Jens Friis Lund, jens@ifro.ku.dk no later than February 1 2015. Successful applicants will be notified by March 1 2015.
- Credit
- 5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Written assignment under invigilationCourse participation under invigilationParticipants must submit a research paper and fully participate in the course to earn a course certificate.
- Aid
- All aids allowed
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- NSCPHD1246
- Credit
- 5 ECTS
- Level
- Ph.D.
- Duration
- Placement
- Summer
- Schedule
- 3 day course workshop which will be held June 16-18, 2015
- Course capacity
- 20
- Price
All participants must pay €200.
Participants will be required to cover their own accommodation and transport to the course location. Upon admission to the course, participants will be provided with information on accommodation options.- Study board
- Natural Sciences PhD Committee
Contracting department
- Department of Food and Resource Economics
Course responsibles
- Jens Friis Lund (4-6f6a7378456e6b777433707a336970)
Lecturers
Professor Giorgio Blundo, EHESS, Marseille
Senior Researcher Emeritus Ole Therkildsen, Danish Institute for
International
Studies
Professor Gerry van Klinken, KITLV, Leiden/Associate professor
Laurens
Bakker, Erasmus University. (tbc)
Dr Melis Ece, Centre for African Studies, Copenhagen University
Associate Professor, Jens Friis Lund, Copenhagen University
Senior Researcher Mikkel Funder, Danish Institute for International
Studies