Show/hide main menu

MA Public Policy

Optional Modules 2012-13

All MA Public Policy students must take 80 credits in Optional Modules. There are 2 categories of optional modules: Central Options and Additional Options. You may select all 80 credits from Central Options, or may combine modules from both Central and Additional Options. Whichever combination you choose, you must take at least 40 credits (2 modules) from Central Options. 

Additional Options are offered by a range of Departments across the Schools of Social Science & Public Policy and Arts & Humanities, as well as by King's Global Institutes. Please follow the links below for more details on module content and timetables for each department.

You are welcome to contact the respective module convenor with any enquiries about the module, but please note that all modules (including modules outside DPE) must be registered with the MA Public Policy Administrator.

In order to promote effective learning, the number of student places available on each optional module is limited. Each year the optional modules offered on the programme may vary. Some of the optional modules are prioritised for students on particular Masters programmes, and consequently you cannot be guaranteed a place on any particular option.

Central Options

MA Public Policy students must take at least 2 modules (40 credits) from this list:

  • 7SSPP004 Designing Public Policy (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr Juan Baeza

    This module aims to develop students’ understanding of the theory and practice of designing public policy, enabling them to gain a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of how public policy is made in general and how specific public policies are designed and developed. More specifically the module will enable the students to:

    • develop a critical understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of public policy design;
    • analyse public policy making through the key concepts of instruments, institutions, actors and strategies;
    • examine, through the use of international case studies, the macro and micro contexts within which public policy is made;
    • practically and critically examine how public policy is developed in a number of key service areas such as health, education and child welfare;
    • understand the environment and the various constraints that public policy makers have to work within.
  • 7SSPP005 Evaluating Public Policy (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr John Meadowcroft

    This module will introduce the theory and practice of policy evaluation. It will equip students with a critical understanding of different techniques of policy evaluation. The specific aims of the module are to:

    • Introduce students to the idea of policy evaluation within the context of the policy process and the theoretical ideas that underpin different approaches to policy evaluation
    • Introduce students to the practical challenges that face different approaches to policy evaluation and how those challenges might be overcome
    • Ensure students have an understanding of how evaluation takes place in the contemporary world of policy-making and have a sound knowledge of (what has been termed) ‘the evaluative state’.
    • Provide students with the knowledge, skills and techniques required for advanced critical analysis of the theory and practice of policy evaluation
  • 7SSPP007 Public Policy Internship (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr Ami Abou-bakr

    This module aims to equip students with a practical knowledge of public policy issues as they arise in the day to day working of an organisation. This practical module will provide students with experience of working within selected governmental, non-governmental or voluntary organisations (e.g. government departments, local authorities, charities, research institutes and think tanks). More specifically the module will:

    • Enable the students to critically examine through practical experience how policy issues are addressed within an organisation
    • Understand the environment and the various challenges and constraints that public policy makers have to work within
    • Gain a better grounded understanding of the governance and management issues in relation to public affairs.
  • 7SSPP008 Liberty, Equality and Justice: Political Theory and Public Policy (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr John Meadowcroft
    (Co-taught with Dr Adam Tebble)

    By examining a series of key texts in contemporary political theory, this module will enable students to better understand the underlying philosophical and theoretical issues that inform contemporary public policy-making and to critically evaluate those ideas.

    Specifically, the module will:

    • Introduce students to a number of key texts in contemporary political theory that reflect the different intellectual traditions in political thought and are centred on the core themes of liberty, equality and justice
    • Illuminate the importance of political ideas to the shaping of public policy
    • Provide students with the knowledge, skills and techniques required for advanced critical analysis of political texts and ideas
    • Enable students to critically analyse the role of notions of liberty, equality and justice in contemporary policy-making
  • 7SSPP009 Case Studies in Policy Decision (20 credits) 

    Module Convenor: Professor Ken Young

    This module will integrate case analysis with the programme’s core modules by presenting the individual cases studies as illustrating some of the key concepts and processes with which the student will become familiar in the core module 7SSPP001 The Policy Process.

    The case method in public policy analysis is a well established learning and teaching method, especially in the United States, where Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government pioneered its use as a pedagogic tool for public managers. The case method has great strengths in providing close familiarity with the considerations that bore on particular historical decisions, so enabling the student to move beyond textbook generalities. Nevertheless, this approach to learning is constantly required to justify itself in terms of ‘cases of what?’.

  • 7SSPP015 Quantitative Methods for Public Policy (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr Rekha Diwakar

    The module is an intensive introduction to principles and techniques of statistical analysis used in public policy and political science research.  The topics to be covered in detail include descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis, inferential statistics, analysis of associations using contingency tables and simple linear regression. Some exposure to more advanced statistical methods such as multiple linear regression and logistic regression will also be provided. The module will also enable students to understand and use appropriate survey methods for analysing quantitative data while presenting their results in research reports and papers. 

    The course assumes no prior knowledge of statistical methods, and practical training will be provided through hands-on workshop sessions where empirical and real survey data would be analysed using statistical package SPSS.

  • 7SSPP016 The Regulatory State: Theory and Practice (20 credits)

    Module Convenor: Dr Christel Koop

    This module focuses on developing empirical knowledge of the development of regulation in different sectors across countries, at the same time as equipping you with the analytical tools to be able to understand why differences might arise in the ways in which regulation is conceived, designed and implemented in different contexts.

  • 7SSPP020 European Public Policy (20 credits)

    Module Convenors: Dr Scott James & Dr Anna Gwiazda

    This module aims to equip students with the theoretical, conceptual and empirical knowledge needed to analyse the design and development of European public policy and its impact on national policies in the EU member states.

    Unlike many existing courses it does not seek to do so by focusing narrowly on the institutions and/or politics of European integration. Instead it adopts a highly distinctive approach that analyses the EU policy making process as a series of distinct stages: from agenda setting and policy formulation through to decision making, implementation and evaluation.

Additional Options

MA Public Policy Students can take up to 40 credits from this list.
 
Department of Political Economy
  • 7SSPP014 US Foreign Policy (20 credits) 

    Module Convenor: Dr Petra Dolata

    This module will introduce students to the conditions and practices of US foreign policy and security policy. US foreign policy is characterized by interdependencies between domestic and international politics, by the intricate two-directional relationship between international negotiation and national implementation, by its institutional setting and actors and by its historical path dependencies.

Department of Education & Professional Studies
  • 7SSEH003 Values, Ethics and The Public Health (30 credits)
  • 7SSEM005 Education, Policy and the City (30 credits)
  • 7SSEM038 Social Context of Schooling (30 credits)
Department of European & International Studies Department of Geography
  • 7SSG5119 Risk Governance (20 credits)
  • 7SSG5120 Risk Management (20 credits)
  • 7SSG5073 Environmental Actors and Politics (20 credits)
Department of Management
  • 7SSMM407 Education and Training Policy and Programmes (15 credits)
  • 7SSMM409 Key Issues in Health Policy (15 credits)
  • 7SSMM411 New Public Management in the Defence Sector (20 credits)
  • 7SSMM414 Leadership and Innovation in the Public Sector (15 credits)
Department of Social Science, Health & Medicine
  • 7SSHM500 Population Ageing & Policy (30 credits)
  • 7SSHM501 Ageing, Health & Society (30 credits)
  • 7SSAM503 Designing Qualitative Research for Social Science & Health (15 credits)
  • 7SSHM505 Ageing in a Global Context (15 credits)
  • 7SSAM506 Researching Vulnerable Populations (15 credits)
Department of War Studies
  • 7SSWM017 Contemporary British Defence Policy (20 credits)

Global Institutes

African Leadership Centre
  • 7SSPP027 Emerging Powers in Global Leadership (20 credits)
  • 7SSPP029 Leadership and Society
  • 7SSPP030 Natural Resource Governance
  • 7SSPP033 The State and Development in Africa and Asia
Brazil Institute
  • 7SYYB001 Brazilian Government and Politics (20 credits)
  • 7SYYB002 Brazil and the World (20 credits)
  • 7YYB0014 Globalization, Development & the Americas (20 credits)
  • 7YYB0013 Inter-American Politics in the 20th and 21st Centuries (20 credits)
China Institute
  • 7YYC0001 Governing China in the Age of Globalisation (20 credits)
  • 7YYC0005 Contemporary Chinese Politics (20 credits)
India Institute
  • 7YYI0007 Democracy in India (20 credits)
  • 7YYI0008 Law Politics and Social Change in India  (20 credits)
  • 7YYI0011 India’s Political Economy  (20 credits)
    NB To enquire about availability, please contact the Module Convenors.

Institute of North American Studies

  • 7YYA001 US Political Culture in the 20th Century
  • 7YYA002 Religion and Politics in the 20th Century United States
Institute of Contemporary British History
  • 7YYH0008 History & Policy: Policymaking Under Pressure (20 credits)
internaladd1
Sitemap Site help Terms and conditions Accessibility Recruitment News Centre Contact us

© 2013 King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS | England | United Kingdom | Tel +44 (0)20 7836 5454