Course description

This course provides postgraduate students with an introduction to the core forms of knowledge that shape public policies. At a theoretical level students engage in an exploration of the most important epistemologies that affect public policymaking. Students are also introduced to key debates about policy and politics: how do rational models of policy knowledge enhance and undermine aspects of the policy process? How can scientific data be factored into policymaking and how does it affect democratic decision making? Is there a non-rational knowledge, which respects individuals, emotions, and fallibility, in public policy? And how might indigenous knowledge be used to improve policy outcomes? At a more pragmatic level students are also introduced to the principles and methods of policy analysis and evidence-based learning. Here students will be taught the ways in which the efficacy of public policy can be assessed and improved. Consequentially, those who take this course will be given an introduction to the key aspects of policy knowledge and the debates that surround them.

Archived offerings