ECTS:

5

Code:

ΚΥ0502

Cycle / Level:

Undergraduate

Compulsory / Optional:

Compulsory

Teaching Period:

Spring

Course Content:

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the mechanisms of state action from the perspectives of new institutionalism and public policy analysis. Firstly, the main theoretical approaches of the formulation, implementation, evaluation and change of public policies at supranational, national and subnational level, are being examined. In this context, particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of neo-institutionalist approaches (rational choice, historical, sociological, discursive). The theoretical discussion is followed by the study of selected cases from two specific policy fields: a) social and employment policy (and the crisis of the Greek welfare state in particular) and b) the implementation of EU cohesion policy by the Greek system of public policy making.

Course modules
1. Introduction: main concepts
2. Theoretical approaches of public administration
3. Τhe public policy cycle: a) agenda-setting, b) policy formulation, c) decision-making, d) policy implementation, e) policy evaluation
4. The new institutionalist approach – rational choice institutionalism
5. The new institutionalist approach – historical institutionalism
6. The new institutionalist approach – sociological institutionalism
7. The new institutionalist approach – discursive institutionalism
8. Reformist tendencies in the field of public policy
9. The contribution of exogenous factors in public policy reform
10. Case studies: the welfare state and social policy in Greece – development policies and regional programming in Greece

Upon successful completion of the course, students will: -acquire a comprehensive view of the methodological problems and dilemmas accompanying public policy formulation and implementation -recognize and assess the thematic and political linkages underpinning the actions of public actors in a globalized environment and in the context of the European Union - be able to follow and/ or evaluate specific public policies and/or actions in a consistent and theortically informed manner