Institut d'Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po)

The course provides an introduction to comparative public policy analysis used in political science and administrative studies. It develops theoretical and methodological skills for students interested in public policy analysis. The course provides the necessary tools for understanding and conducting in-depth research on a variety of political issues. Each class is divided into two parts. The first part of the lecture deals with the main concepts in public policy analysis. The second part applies those concepts to a specific policy related to urban issues through a presentation by the students followed by either a group work or a debate in class. Learning outcomes include understanding and criticizing comparative analytical frameworks; investigating policy processes, outputs, and outcomes across various policy areas; conducting their own research on a specific policy domain following a comparative perspective. The course is structured so that the learning experience in class sessions is cumulative. Students are expected to read all assigned readings, regularly attend, and contribute to the class, and develop their own comparative analysis of one policy in the United States or Canada and in a European country.

This course addresses a fundamental question of political science: political legitimacy. The seminar is divided into three main parts. The first part is more philosophical in nature and focuses on the source and limits of political power in different types of political regimes. The second part of the course deals with some of the key concepts of political theory, including questions about political power, domination, social justice, and exploitation. The third part is composed of four thematic sessions dedicated to Turkey. Examples covered include the Gezi Park protests of 2013, as well as other moments of popular uprisings and their political meanings for different regimes in the region and beyond. The course provides the theoretical and empirical resources needed to develop the skills to critically apprehend current political events.

This course studies the design of institutions that optimally cope with fundamental, longstanding economic questions (allocation of private goods, public good provision, externalities). It begins from a simple, institution-free description of each question to understand the basic tensions at work and derive institutions that optimally address these tensions. In the process, it introduces the important ideas of social choice, game theory, and market design and highlights the theoretical concepts using empirical applications and in-class games. Topics include social choice, efficiency, and welfare; game theory and incentives; institutions as mechanisms; and limits to efficiency.