15625 Contemporary Policy Challenges

Description

This subject is one of four core subjects in the Graduate Certificate in Applied Policy (C11263), the Graduate Diploma in Applied Policy (C06121) and the Master of Applied Policy (C04323), which also include the subjects 15226 Policy in Practice, 15627 Policy and Resources, and 15628 Evidence and Decision Making.

This subject introduces students to major challenges and issues confronting contemporary policymakers. It considers policymaking challenges in terms of the social, political and economic ideas that shape the framing and implementation of policy at the global and national level. It studies these challenges as they apply across national boundaries and within key policy sectors, with an articulated focus on case studies. In relation to stakeholders, the subject examines major issues in the formulation and implementation of policy such as the role of international organisations, global civil society, public opinion, bureaucracy, technology and interest group participation.

Participants become able to:

• conceptualise policymaking as a framework for describing, analysing and addressing key social, political and economic issues across a variety of policy contexts
• identify supra-national pressures that act on policymakers and influence policymaking at national and sectoral levels, and
• categorise the grounds on which different national governments confront interrelated policy challenges and issues in diverse ways.