ASTK18100U Analysing Public Policy: Institutions, Time and Processes

Governments often find themselves embroiled in complex processes when addressing problems emerging on the policy agenda. The way in which governments respond to policy problems is puzzling, not only for scholars but often also for practitioners. Numerous questions lend themselves to scrutiny. For instance, why do governments declare some social or economic conditions policy problems while ignoring others? Why are politicians overreacting in relation to some policy problems while underreacting when addressing others? Why do different governments confronting similar problems address them in very different ways? Why can a public policy be considered a success and failure at the same time? Why are some policies difficult to reform despite obvious needs for change? Why do policies which have been stable for long periods of time become exposed to demands for radical change? Why are some policy reforms reversed in the post-enactment phase while others are more enduring? The course will introduce and utilise classic as well as more recent concepts and analytical frameworks to explain some of the policy phenomena that puzzles students of public policy. The first part of the course will initially introduce the participants to theoretical approaches to studying the five basic stages of the policy process and subsequently discuss some of the more recent developments in the policy studies discipline, taking mainly a temporal perspective. The policy phenomena being addressed will include path dependency, punctuated equilibrium, sequencing, self-reinforcing and self-undermining feedbacks, policy capacity, reform sustainability and disproportionality in public policy. In the second part of the course, the participants will apply the theoretical concepts and analytical frameworks by analysing real world examples of policy making.

Carsten Daugbjerg is a political scientist and Professor in the Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen. He was a Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University (ANU) from 2013 to 2018 and is now an Honorary Professor at this institution and an Associate of the ANU Centre for European Studies. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning and a recipient of the ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Public Policy and Outreach. His research area is comparative and global public policy with a particular interest in policy network and governance theories, historical institutionalism, ideational and policy paradigm theory, policy instrument and policy design theory. Currently, his empirical research focusses on global food security policy and governance, EU trade policy and private food standards.