Course Syllabus
Obiettivi formativi
Learning objectives
Mastering the contents of the course and achieving the corresponding skills. The main objective of the course is the analysis of the policy process leading to most policy schemes in the domain of social work and social policy at the national, regional or local level. The comprehension of the policy design is an important focus of the course. The understanding of the tension between decision-making, steering by meso-level actors and implementation by street-level agents, in the domain of social policy, will be at heart of the course. Most contents are comparative (Europe).
The comprehension of the mechanisms leading to the making and the implementing of social policy schemes at local level will enable the participants to understand, master and act as professionals in such a policy environment.
Padroneggiare i contenuti del corso e conseguire le competenze corrispondenti. L'obiettivo principale del corso è l'analisi del processo politico che porta alla maggior parte dei regimi politici nel campo del lavoro sociale e della politica sociale a livello nazionale, regionale o locale. La comprensione del policy design è un obiettivo importante del corso. La comprensione della tensione tra il processo decisionale, la guida degli attori di livello medio e l'applicazione da parte degli agenti di strada, nel campo della politica sociale, sarà al centro del corso. La maggior parte dei contenuti è comparativa (Europa).
La comprensione dei meccanismi che portano all'elaborazione e all'attuazione di schemi di politica sociale a livello locale consentirà ai partecipanti di comprendere, padroneggiare e agire da professionisti in tale contesto politico.
Contenuti sintetici
Il corso mira a fornire un'introduzione al processo politico nel campo della politica sociale e del lavoro sociale. Gestisce i meccanismi più importanti, le istituzioni, gli attori, i valori e le fasce sociali di questo campo politico. Il corso prenderà in considerazione l'inclusione della politica sociale locale nel contesto di dibattiti e vincoli politici regionali, nazionali e sovranazionali. Affronterà gli attori pubblici, para-pubblici, associativi o a scopo di lucro interagendo con i destinatari di politiche sociali come famiglie, giovani, disoccupati, disabili o anziani fragili nel contesto dell'elaborazione delle politiche sociali.
Prerequisiti
Mastery of theoretical knowledge and methodological basis regarding policies and good skills in learning, writing and oral communication.
Learning objectives
Mastering the contents of the course and achieving the corresponding skills. The main objective of the course is the analysis of the policy process leading to most policy schemes in the domain of social work and social policy at the national, regional or local level. The comprehension of the policy design is an important focus of the course. The understanding of the tension between decision-making, steering by meso-level actors and implementation by street-level agents, in the domain of social policy, will be at heart of the course. Most contents are comparative (Europe).
The comprehension of the mechanisms leading to the making and the implementing of social policy schemes at local level will enable the participants to understand, master and act as professionals in such a policy environment.
Contents
The course aims at providing an introduction to the policy process in the domain of social policy and social work. It handles the most important mechanisms, institutions, actors, values, and social cleavages of this policy field. The course will consider the embeddedness of local social policy-making in the context of regional, national and supranational policy debates and constraints. It will tackle public, para-public, associative or for-profit actors as they interact with the addressees of social policies such as families, youngsters, unemployed, disabled or frail elderly people in the context of social policy-making.
Detailed program
Detailed program
1. Introduction to policy studies
· Social policy design as policy-making
· Introductory definitions
· Some theoretical views over public policy
· The policy cycle and beyond
2. Public problems definition and policy-making
· Public problems, policies and democracy
· Social problems, public problems: Some theoretical approaches
· Analyzing the construction of public problems
3. Designing public policies: Programming policies and designing policy instruments
· Analyzing policy design
· Explaining policy design
4. Policy implementation
· Programming the implementation
· Resources of the implementation process
· Analytical approaches to policy implementation
5. Social policy evaluation in Europe
· The basic evaluation methods
· Micro-economic evaluation methods
· Qualitative evaluation
· Various forms of participatory evaluation
6. Dynamics and challenges in contemporary social policy making
· Social policy as a specific type of policy-making
· Institutions and actors
· New public problems, ideas, policy solutions?
7. Social services and long-term care policies in Europe
· Historical trajectories and theoretical approaches
· National models and local diversity
· Recent trends in social services
· Long-term care for the aged
8. Social innovations in social planning
· Diversity of influences and convergence?
· The political character of policy innovation
· A comparative research project on social innovation at local level in Germany, Scotland and Switzerland
Prerequisites
Mastery of theoretical knowledge and methodological basis regarding policies and good skills in learning, writing and oral communication.
Teaching methods
The course is given in English. Discussions during the course and the assessment at the end of the course can be either in English or in Italian.
Lectures and research.
Assessment methods
Final assignment Social planning
Draft in either English or Italian, an essay providing an analysis of a social policy making process. This essay should be based on one or on several concrete cases either in Italy or abroad. Pick one or two analytical dimensions learned during the course (public problem formulation, analysis of policy instruments, implementation, evaluation, social policy innovation analysis…) and provide an analysis based on documents (reports or any type of grey literature, newspapers articles, brochures, statistics, interviews of policy makers or of social workers you can find online or in news magazines, etc.). You have to look for academic literature grounding your analysis (at least two articles). You can use the articles or chapters I passed you during the course. You have to quote all types of documents (informative or academic) in the appropriate way in a bibliography, presented at the end or your text. You can indicate the references to the non-academic sources (grey literature and press for instance) either, in a separate list presented at the end of the text, or in footnotes. Draft a document of about 5 to 8 pages.
Before to embark on the drafting of your assignment, send me an email with a presentation of the subject you chose, as well as the type of questioning you want to develop in your paper. If you have more questions, we can make a phone appointment.
Textbooks and Reading Materials
Textbooks and Reading Materials
Knoepfel, Peter; Larrue, Corinne; Varone, Frédéric; Hill, Michael. Public Policy Analysis. The Policy Press, Bristol, 2007.
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Session Date |
Lessons to be discussed |
Texts |
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1 - Introduction to policy analysis |
- Read the “Introduction” (p. ix-xvii) and “Chapter 2 – Public policy” (p. 21-37) [textbook Public Policy Analysis, by Peter Knoepfel et al.) - Jann, Werner; Wegrich, Kai. “Theories of the policy cycle”, in Fischer, Frank; Miller, Gerald J.; Sidney, Mara S. (dirs.). Handbook of Public Policy Analysis – Theory, Politics and Methods. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2007, 43-62. - Wagner, Peter. “Public policy, social science, and the state: An historical perspective”, in Fischer, Frank; Miller, Gerald J.; Sidney, Mara S. (dirs.). Handbook of Public Policy Analysis – Theory, Politics and Methods. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2007, 29-40.
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2 – Public problems and policy-making |
- Berger, Peter L.; Luckmann, Thomas (1966). The social construction of reality – A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor Books, Garden City. - Knoepfel, Peter; Larue, Corinne; Varone, Frédéric, Hill, Michael. Public Policy Analysis, Policy Press: Bristol, 2007. Chapter 7 Agenda Setting, p. 125-150. - Scharpf, Fritz (2000). Governing in Europe: Effective and Democratic?, Oxford University Press, Oxford. - Kingdon, John (1984). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. Harper Collins, New York.
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3 – Designing public policies – Programming policies and choosing policy instruments |
Read one of the two following articles: - Rochefort, David A.; Roseberg, Michael; White, Deena (1998). “Community as a Policy Instrument: A Comparative Analysis”. Policy Studies Journal, vol.26, N°3, 548-568. - Berndt, Christian; Wirth, Manuel (2018). “Market, metrics, morals: The Social Impact Bond as an emerging social policy instrument”. Geoforum, n°90, 27-35. - Schneider Anne; Ingram, Helen (1997). Policy Design for Democracy. University of Kansas Press. |
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4 – Policy implementation – The end of the policy cycle? |
Read one of the two following articles: -Mccaffery J. Jeffrey L. Pressman and Aaron B. Wildavsky. Implementation: How Great Expectations in Washington Are Dashed in Oakland . Pp. xviii, 182. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973. -May, Peter J., Winter, Søren C. (2007). « Politicians, Managers, and Street-Level Bureaucrats: Influences on Policy Implementation ». Journal of Public Administration and Theory. 19, 453-476. -Richard E. Matland (1995) "Synthesizing the Implementation Literature: The Ambiguity-Conflict Model of Policy Implementation." Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 5(2): 145-174. |
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5 – Social policy evaluation in Europe
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6 – Dynamics and challenges in contemporary social policy making |
Read the following article: Bonoli, Giuliano (2007). “Time Matters: Postindustrialization, New Social Risks, and Welfare State Adaptation in Advanced Industrial Democracies”, Comparative Political Studies 2007; 40; 495-520. |
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7 – Social services and long-term care policies in Europe
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-Martinelli, Flavia “Social services disrupted: changing supply landscapes, impacts and policy options”. In: Martinelli, Flavia; Anttonen, Anneli; Mätzke, Margitta (Eds.). Social Services Disrupted - Changes, Challenges and Policy Implications for Europe in Times of Austerity. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2017, p. 391-410. -Leibetseder, Bettina; Anttonen, Anneli; Øverbye, Einar ; Pace, Charles; Vabo, Signy Irene. “The horizontal ‘re-mix’ in social care: trends and implications for service provision”. In: Martinelli, Flavia; Anttonen, Anneli; Mätzke, Margitta (Eds.). Social Services Disrupted - Changes, Challenges and Policy Implications for Europe in Times of Austerity. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2017, p. 134-154.
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8 – Social innovation in social planning
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-Giraud, O., Lucas, B., Falk, K., Kümpers, S., & Lechevalier, A. (2014). “Innovations in Local Domiciliary Long-Term Care: From Libertarian Criticism to Normalisation”. Social Policy and Society, 13(3), p. 433-444. -Sinclair, Stephen; Baglione, Simone. “Social innovation and Social Policy – Promises and Risks”. Social Policy & Society. 13 (3), p. 460-476. |
Key information
Staff
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Olivier Alain Marie Giraud