Summary Course – Maulana Akbar

[Summary Course] SOC 818 Evaluation and the Policy Process

April 6, 2019

This unit introduces students to evaluation and accounts for its place in the policy process and social sciences respectively. Students will acquire knowledge of different approaches to evaluation as well as the ethical and political issues surrounding this process. The unit also focuses on how trends informing public sector management have an influence on the evaluation process and the actual implementation of evaluations. Application of concepts and methods of evaluation to current ...

Policy Studies, Social Studies

[Summary Course] SOCI811 North, South, East, West: Comparative Social Policy

March 27, 2019

Social policies that aim to enhance public welfare are often incorrectly considered to solely be the province of wealthy Western democracies. In fact, some of the most interesting social policy experiments in recent times have occurred in East Asia, Latin America and beyond. We analyse social policy in richer and poorer countries, considering similarities as well as differences in scale, scope, instruments and politics. Our course proceeds in three sections. The first engages with ...

Policy Studies, Social Studies

[Summary Course] POL 820 Politics and Policy: An Advanced Introduction

March 26, 2019

Week 1: Intro & Overview 1. How might we define “policy”, and what is distinctive about “public policy”? 2. What do we mean by “politics”? Identify two different definitions of politics in your readings, and consider which of them you find most persuasive. 3. What does the study of political science involve? 4. In what ways do you think policy making can be political? Week 2: Fundamentals of the Australia Political System 1. What are the key features of the Australian political system? ...