ASTK18469U International and European Public Policy

Volume 2025/2026
Education

Full-degree students enrolled at the Department of Political Science, UCPH

  • MSc in Political Science
  • MSc in Social Science
  • MSc in Security Risk Management
  • Bachelor in Political Science

 

Full-degree students enrolled at the Faculty of Social Science, UCPH 

  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Anthropology
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Psychology 
  • Bachelor and Master Programmes in Economics
  • Master Programme in Social Data Science

 

The course is open to:

  • Exchange and Guest students from abroad
  • Credit students from Danish Universities
  • Open University students
Content

Students will be introduced to international public policy theory and gain practical insights into relevant and current cases based on a range of academic texts, media articles, pod casts and videos. Taking an outset in a dynamic version of the traditional ‘two-level game’ of international politics, the course teaches students to analyse, evaluate, and design international and EU policies.

 

The course will be highly interactive, emphasising ‘active learning’ techniques in both self-study activities and during class room teaching. The course will make use of The Economics weekly articles and pod casts, as well as current material related to the organisations/dilemmas studied each week. At the end of the course, students will be able to critically assess and design public policy interventions, and will understand the policy options and strategies available to policy practitioners.

 

Students will get to choose a topic for analysis in Week 12 and 13. See outline below.

 

AI tools are used actively in this course and will be a focus of both the policy analyses and as an integrated feature to support student learning individually and in the class room setting.

 

Outline:

Week 1: Why do states collaborate? Introduction to current dilemmas in international public policy and why the European Union is a good laboratory for analysis.

 

Week 2: International politics and public policy: A dynamic two-level game.

 

Week 3: International politics and public policy: A dynamic two-level game – applied:

Case 1: UN Security Council.

Case 2: Council of the European Union.

 

Week 4: Who sets the agenda in international public policy?

 

Week 5: Who sets the agenda in international public policy?

  • applied:

Case 1: WHO

Case 2: ECOFIN

 

Week 6: Power, rules and strategies: Who decides in international and European policy-making?

 

Week 7: Reading week

 

Week 8: Power, rules and strategies: Who decides in international and European policy-making? – applied:

Case 1: International Trade – WTO

Case 2: EU in WTO

 

Week 9: Transparency and accountability in international public policy

 

Week 10: Transparency and accountability in international public policy – applied:

Case 1: FED

Case 2: General Affairs Council of the European Union

 

Week 11: AI: Opportunities and challenges for international public policy

 

Week 12: Free choice – How do we solve a policy challenge?

Students chose topic and international organisations from following list:

  • Deforestation of the Amazon forest
  • Gender inequalities
  • Health
  • Climate change
  • Poverty
  • Migration
  • Defence

 

Week 13: Free choice – – How do we solve a policy challenge?

Case 1: International organisation relevant to chosen topic above

Case 2: European Union policy body relevant to chosen topic above

 

Week 14: Conclusion: How do we design effective policies in international organisations?

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Students will learn about the opportunities and challenges throughout the public policy cycle in international politics and will be able to critically assess and design ‘good’ (effective) policies within a given policy area. They will get to understand the tools and negotiation options available to different actors in the policy space.

 

Skills:

  • Policy analysis, evaluation and design skills
  • Negotiation strategies and techniques
  • Written and oral communication skills

 

Competences:

  • Ability to navigate and lead in complex policy arenas
  • Insights into current policy dilemmas in international and EU policy-making
  • Analytical and reflective competences based on political science models applied to real-world policy challenges.

A few indicative readings:

 

  • Evans, P.B., Jacobson, H.K. and Putnam, R.D. eds., 1993. Double-edged diplomacy: International bargaining and domestic politics (No. 25). Univ of California Press.
  • Putnam, R.D., 2017. Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level games. In International organization (pp. 437-470). Routledge.
  • Hagemann, S. (forthcoming) ‘The New Political Game in Europe’, Oxford University Press.
  • Hagemann, S., Hobolt, S. B., & Wratil, C. (2017). Government Responsiveness in the European Union: Evidence From Council Voting. Comparative Political Studies, 50(6), 850-876. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1177/​0010414015621077
  • De Vries CE, Hobolt SB, Walter S. Politicizing International Cooperation: The Mass Public, Political Entrepreneurs, and Political Opportunity Structures. International Organization. 2021;75(2):306-332. doi:10.1017/​S0020818320000491
There are no prerequisites, but the course is designed for students with a political science or economics background who understand political systems and are interested in international politics and public policy
Lectures and class discussions based on ‘active learning’ approach where students are prompted to actively engage with each week’s topic by answering questions and add to course material with own notes and relevant sources from week to week. The course is structured in blocks of 2 weeks, where the first week engages with theories and dilemmas based on scientific analysis and literature, while second week is a class discussion of two cases from international public policy and the European Union, respectively.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 100
  • Exam Preparation
  • 30
  • Exam
  • 48
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Home assignment
Type of assessment details
Ongoing tests.
See the section regarding exam forms in the program curriculum for more information on guidelines and scope.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Re-exam

In the semester where the course takes place: Free written assignment

In subsequent semesters: Free written assignment

Criteria for exam assesment

Meet the subject's knowledge, skill and competence criteria, as described in the goal description, which demonstrates the minimally acceptable degree of fulfillment of the subject's learning outcome.

Grade 12 is given for an outstanding performance: the student lives up to the course's goal description in an independent and convincing manner with no or few and minor shortcomings

Grade 7 is given for a good performance: the student is confidently able to live up to the goal description, albeit with several shortcomings

Grade 02 is given for an adequate performance: the minimum acceptable performance in which the student is only able to live up to the goal description in an insecure and incomplete manner