210138 VO EC: Policy Analysis in the Real World (2025W)

Advanced societies are policy dense. States, and increasingly other actors, see it as their responsibility to design solutions for public problems. When we talk about the problem of climate change, or mass migration, or violence against women, or a health care system that it stretched to the limit, we are expecting that the state comes up with an effective policy to solve these problems. Successfully designing and realizing public policy is a core element of what it means for a society to be democratic. When states fail, they usually fail in making a policy work. Policy making is part political and part technical. In this course I will touch upon both aspects of the policy making process.

The course is an introduction to the discipline of policy analysis. Policy analysis is the study of the policy process. It is an applied discipline that aims at explanations of social, economic and technical problems for the purpose of providing advice to officials about the best course of government action. Thus, you will find policy analysists in areas as different as health, education, social welfare, and climate policy. In addition to the substantive knowledge of their particular social domain, policy analysts understand the stages, actors, and instruments of the policy process. In 12 lectures I will discuss the major elements of the policy process, as well as different ways of studying public policy. I will illustrate the general insights of the course with concrete examples.

I made a videos topresent the course. This the link:

https://ucloud.univie.ac.at/index.php/s/PKzExoLG4jKtBxc?dir=/&editing=false&openfile=trueVideo

I have lectured and done policy analysis most of my professional life. I also worked within a government bureaucracy, so I know how policy making looks from the inside. Most of the literature on policy analysis is, frankly, boring and often of dubious value. Yet the study of public policy, being in the frontline where the action is, working with bureaucrats, politicians, and citizens, has always been one of the most rewarding experiences in my working life. I will try to convey some of that excitement in the course. Moreover, this course is part of the Erweiterungscurriculum. I see it as my task to present you an attractive and inviting introduction to the topic of public policy, that will make you want to read more about it and will make you read the news in the media differently.

The course consists of 12 lectures. You are not required to attend the lectures, but you will find that by attending the lectures the literature will come alive and your understanding will deepen.