Global Social and Public Policy MA

This module presents the context that forms the operating environment of public and social policy.

It discusses key concepts and theories that shape debates about policy, and presents critical perspectives on mainstream assumptions about policy.

Theories and perspectives include socialism, neo-liberalism, Marxism, feminism and environmentalism; key concepts include equality and social justice.

Learn how to:

• recognise and debate key theories and influences involved in policy making, operations and decisions
• understand and challenge mainstream assumptions, and present alternative perspectives
• collaborate with your classmates through group work
• find, summarise and synthesise various sources from diverse perspectives to inform thinking and arguments

This module focuses on the skills you need to carry out policy research.

It covers research design and methods that are appropriate to answer research questions about any element of policy, from its inception to its application.

Using these diverse research skills and methods will help you develop a research proposal for your dissertation project. 

This module focuses on the design of policies, from deciding on the need for a policy through making the policy happen.

It addresses the various actors and institutions involved in the policy making process and their roles in different forms of governance.

A range of advanced policy analysis theories and concepts is discussed in relation to assessing the success or failure of a policy.

Learn how to:

• critically evaluate policy processes in different contexts and their impacts on key societal issues, like sustainability, wellbeing and social justice
• use relevant theories and concepts to explain causes or policy change, and the design of policy solutions
• Find and summarise various sources from diverse perspectives to inform the policy analysis

This module is the final assessment of the programme, and is a culmination of all the learning that you will have done over the year.

The learning process and personal development as a reflective and continuous learner is expressed in a reflective diary that you will compile over the course of the year, with support from your personal tutor.

The knowledge and academic skills that you have gained are expressed in your dissertation, with support from your dissertation supervisor.

The dissertation is a sustained piece of research that is entirely student-driven, including setting your own research questions, deciding on your research design and methods, and carrying out the research and the dissertation writing.

This module starts with the following questions:  

• how do policies change and what is the role of policy actors in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)?  
• What is the role of political elites with a focus on state actors, and what is the role of interest groups?
• Can less powerful groups effect policy change? if so how?  

The module will analyse the role of interest groups and government actors in shaping social/public policy decisions. To achieve this end the module will be divided into two sections.

Section one addresses the state, business sector and civil society. The second section presents detailed case studies about the politics of change in regard to topics such as: climate change, labour market policies, education, health policies, tourism, fiscal, and monetary policies in LMIC. The first part will set the analytical tools for the second part.

This module focuses on inequality within and between countries (high, middle and low income) and their ability to respond to global challenges, such as climate change and pandemics.

It discusses the possibility of global coordination, global level funds and interventions to deal with issues such as growing displacement and poverty.

This module will equip you with the knowledge and understanding of the role international governmental organisations (such as the World Bank, World Health Organization, IMF, OECD) play in global governance. You will study how international organisations compete with each other and also cooperate in different fields of public policy to influence the global debate, shift ideas, set the agenda and formulate policy.

You will learn how they prepare, guide, and supervise international treaties on public policy issues and how they direct finance and implement public policy projects. You will learn about the inherent features of the major international organisations and how these determine the approach they take to influence policies. 

This module focuses on the welfare social policies in countries around the world.

Using a Social Problem framework, it discusses how problems that occur at local level are influenced by and influence problems at national and global levels.

Study how past and current colonial practices influence the persistence of social problems, and countries’ responses to them.

Topics vary widely and can include health and social care, housing, education, pension provision, needs of ageing societies.

This module focuses on the practical elements of public service delivery, and how they are affected by the involvement of a range of different stakeholders.

Salient roles and relationships are those between different levels of government, between service users and providers, and between providers from the public, private and third sector.

Key issues are inequality of access to and use of services and assessing and improving the quality of services.

This module focuses on the influence of government ideologies on economic policy decisions.

It discusses the tension between social and private benefits, the relative benefits of supply-side and demand-side economics, and how profit incentives lead to market failure in the provision of social benefit.

Topics addressed include the balance between short- and long-term interests and decisions about spending that are made at various levels of government on services such as housing and welfare.