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POL8526

Comparative Public Policy and Administration

Choose study year
Credits 10
Level Doctoral degree level
Course start Autumn 2025
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction English
Location Trondheim
Examination arrangement Paper

About

About the course

Course content

Complex and cross-sectoral societal challenges drive the evolution of modern organizational forms and shape the development of public policy. Understanding how political and administrative systems of government are organized and how they formulate policy is central to the study of public policy and administration. Focusing on individual cases alone can limit our understanding of the causes and effects of different administrative designs or different policies. For instance, why do policies on education, immigration, or the environment vary greatly across countries, even when they face similar global challenges? Why are some administrations more effective than others in solving societal issues? This lecture approaches public policy and administration from a comparative perspective to address these and other questions. Applying a comparative perspective we will look at both political-administrative structures and policy analysis.

The lecture provides an advanced introduction to both classical and modern literature in the field of public policy and administration, as well as theory and empirical studies on policy implementation and evaluation. To illustrate key concepts, we will cover empirical examples from diverse policy areas (such as health and welfare policy, agricultural and rural policy, immigration and integration policy).

Learning outcome

Knowledge - the student shall have knowledge of:

  • explanations of variations in policy formulations and tensions between different levels of government
  • the development and principles within reform traditions
  • modern forms of organization and governance
  • policy design, instruments and implementation of public policy
  • methods for the evaluation of public policy and public programs

Skills - the student shall demonstrate the ability to:

  • identify an own research topic based one of the themes discussed in the lecture and conduct an independent comparative empirical analysis at an internationally high level.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures/ group discussions for 4 hours per week throughout the semester. Supervision of paper. The paper is to be an independent study of a topic taught in lectures, and must consist of about 20 pages using a comparative design and should be written in English. If less than 6 students attend the course the two first weeks of teaching, the course will be given as an individual study course with supervision. Please contact the department for further information.

Further on evaluation

Form of assessment: Individual paper. An identical version of the exam paper cannot be used directly in the PhD thesis as an article or a chapter. A revised version of the exam paper may be included in the thesis. When repeating a failed exam, the candidate can submit a revised version of a previously submitted paper in the course. If the submission is a revised version of a previously submitted paper, this must be specified in the paper.

Required previous knowledge

Master's degree in Political Science or equivalent.

Course materials

To be decided at the start of the course.

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
POL3526 10 sp Autumn 2022
This course has academic overlap with the course in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject areas

  • Social Sciences
  • Political Science

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: Paper
Grade: Passed / Not Passed

Ordinary examination - Autumn 2025

Paper
Weighting 100/100 Exam system Inspera Assessment

Ordinary examination - Spring 2026

Paper
Weighting 100/100 Exam system Inspera Assessment