Thursday 27 August 2015

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST FOR POLI 359: PUBLIC POLICY MAKING


DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES


POLI 359: PUBLIC POLICY MAKING

FIRST SEMESTER, 2015/2016
VENUE: E 9

LECTURER: DR ABDULAI KUYINI MOHAMMED

Course Title
Public Policy Making
Course Code
POLI 359
Course Description

The course examines the initiation, development and implementation as well as the evaluation of public policy. The course is designed to enable participants understand the basic concepts, models, approach, methods and theories of public policy making. It draws out some of the connections and disjunctions between the theory and practice of public policy making. This is necessary because academic interpretations (theoretical explanations) of what policy makers do and even what they say they do and what policy makers actually do may differ. Selected examples of public policies and programs in Ghana (such as the STX Housing Deal, Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Decentralization, National Health Insurance Scheme, National Youth Policy) and elsewhere will be used to provide a better understanding of the link (or lack thereof) between the theory and practice of public policy making.

Purpose and objectives
The course will help students to develop a critical perspective on public policy making by encouraging them to challenge the received wisdom and prescribed solutions presented by many policy science scholars and commentators. Students will acquire knowledge and insights through lectures, discussions and the textbooks as well as the assigned reading material. They will then be able to apply this knowledge to specific real world public policy phenomena.

Upon completion of the course students should be able to:
  • Explain the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of public policy
  • Explain the key elements of the public policy process
  • Articulate insights gained from the study of public policy making in Ghana and other jurisdictions
  • Compare and contrast approaches to public policy making in different countries
  • Establish the link between the theory and practice of public policy making
  • Identify the challenges to effective public policy making and implementation in Ghana and elsewhere
  • Suggest ways to overcome the challenges to effective public policy making and implementation in Ghana and other Sub-Saharan African countries


Week No.
Date
Lecture Course
Tutorials
Venue
Assessment
1
Aug. 21,  2015
Nature & scope of  public policy making


Lecture: E 9


2
Aug. 28, 2015
Public Policy Process
Distinguish between public policy & politics; Public policy & Law; and Public policy and program

Lecture: E 9

3
Sept. 4 2015
Public Policy process
Compare the tasks of actors at the agenda setting stage to those at the formulation stage
Lecture: E 9

4
Sept. 11, 2015
Models of the Policy Process
Assess the usefulness of the policy cycle in practice
Lecture: E 9

5
Sept. 18, 2015
Models of the Policy Process
What is the import of the multiple stream model of agenda setting?
Lecture: E 9

6
Sept. 25, 2015
Models of the Policy process
Examine the strengths and weaknesses of the advocacy coalition framework
Lecture: E 9

Interim Assessment (30%);
3.30 pm
7
Oct. 2, 2015
Policy Environment
Do you agree that environmental forces facilitating to policy making?
Lecture: E 9


8
Oct. 9, 2015
Actors and Institutions
Discuss Etzion’s classification of policy instruments
Lecture: E 9

9
Oct. 16, 2015
Policy Instruments
Policy instrument classification is an exercise in futility. Discuss
Lecture: E 9
Tutorial:

10
Oct. 23, 2015
Policy Instruments
Do you agree that the legislature has more influence than the executive in policy making/
Lecture: E 9

11
Oct. 30, 2015
Policy Success & Policy Failure
Assess the criteria used in evaluating policy success and failure
Lecture: E 9

12
Nov.6, 2015
Policy Change & Policy Termination 
Examine the conditions under which public policy should be terminated
Lecture: E 9


13
Nov. 13, 2015
Policy Learning
To what extent do policy makers learn from the successes and failures of past policies in Ghana?
Lecture: E 9

14

Revision
Revision

15

Revision
Revision


Exam (70%)



Reading List
Anderson, J. E. (2006), Public policy making, 6th edition, Wadsworth Cenage Learning, Belmont, USA 
Bridgman, P. and Davis, G. (2004), The Australian policy handbook, 3rd edition, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
Howlett, M. and Ramesh, M. (2003), Studying public policy: policy cycles and policy subsystems. Oxford University Press, Oxford
McConnell, A. (2010), ‘Policy success, policy failure and grey areas in-between’, Journal of Public Policy 30 (3): 345-362
Mohammed, A. K. (2013), ‘Civic engagement in public policy making in Ghana: fad or reality?’, Politics and Policy 41 (1): 117-152
Mohammed, A. K. (2015), ‘Ghana’s policy making: from elitism and exclusion to participation and inclusion? International Public Management Review 16 (1): 1-24

Simon, R (1976). ‘Studying public policy’, Canadian Journal of Political Science 9 (4): 548-580








Wednesday 26 August 2015

POLI 453: GENDER AND POLITICS-KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMS

UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework

Baseline definitions of key concepts and terms

Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity). Gender roles and expectations are learned. They can change over time and they vary within and between cultures. Systems of social differentiation such as political status, class, ethnicity, physical and mental disability, age and more, modify gender roles. The concept of gender is vital because, applied to social analysis, it reveals how women’s subordination (or men’s domination) is socially constructed. As such, the subordination can be changed or ended. It is not biologically predetermined nor is it fixed forever.

Sex describes the biological differences between men and women, which are universal and determined at birth.

Gender Analysis is the collection and analysis of sex-dis-aggregated information. Men and women both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so policies, programmes and projects can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men.

Sex-Disaggregated Data is data that is collected and presented separately on men and women.

Gender Equality means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development.

Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community and their society.

Gender Equity is the process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a means. Equality is the result.

Empowerment is about people -both women and men- taking control over their lives: setting their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, solving problems and developing self-reliance. No one can empower another: only the individual can empower herself or himself to make choices or to speak out. However, institutions including international cooperation agencies can support processes that can nurture self-empowerment of individuals or groups.


 Gender Division of Labour is the result of how each society divides work among men and among women according to what is considered suitable or appropriate to each gender.

Women in Development (WID) The WID approach aims to integrate women into the existing development process by targeting them, often in women -specific activities. Women are usually passive recipients in WID projects, which often emphasize making women more efficient producers and increasing their income. Although many WID projects have improved health, income or resources in the short term, because they did not transform unequal relationships, a significant number were not sustainable. A common shortcoming of WID projects is that they do not consider women’s multiple roles or that they miscalculate the elasticity of women’s time and labour. An other, is that such projects tend to by blind to men’s roles and responsibilities in women’s (dis)empowerment.

The biggest difference between WID and GAD is that WID projects traditionally were not grounded in a comprehensive gender analysis. The GAD approach is gender-analysis driven.

There is definitely a need for women- specific and men -specific interventions at times. These complement gender initiatives. Research shows that the success of both sex-specific and gender activities is directly linked with the depth of the gender analysis that informs them.

Gender and Development (GAD) The GAD approach focuses on intervening to address unequal gender relations which prevent inequitable development and which often lock women out of full participation. GAD seeks to have both women and men participate, make decisions and share benefits. This approach often aims at meeting practical needs as well as promoting strategic interests. A successful GAD approach requires sustained long-term commitment.

Practical Needs refer to what women (or men) perceive as immediate necessities such as water, shelter and food.

Strategic (Gender) Interests. Interventions addressing strategic gender interests focus on fundamental issues related to women’s (or, less often, men’s) subordination and gender inequities. Strategic gender interests are long-term, usually not material, and are often related to structural changes in society regarding women’s status and equity. They include legislation for equal rights, reproductive choice, and increased participation in decision-making. The notion of “strategic gender needs”, first coined in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux, helped develop gender planning and policy development tools, such as the Moser Framework, which are currently being used by development institutions around the world.

NB: The purpose of introducing such distinctions between needs is to alert the programme specialist to the importance of addressing the structural challenges to women’s empowerment. It is not to lock women’s realities and experiences into rigid and pre-set notions of what is a strategic need versus what responds to a practical need. For, in many instances, changes in women’s practical conditions of life have an effect on power relations between men and women within the community.

Gender-mainstreaming is a process rather than a goal. Efforts to integrate gender into existing institutions of the mainstream have little value for their own sake. We mainstream gender concerns to achieve gender equality and improve the relevance of development agendas. Such an approach shows that the costs of women’s marginalization and gender inequalities are born by all.

UN ECOSOC describes gender mainstreaming as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality”. (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2)

Gender-responsive objectives are programme and project objectives that are non-discriminatory, equally benefit women and men and aim at correcting gender imbalances.

Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of the female to male adult literacy rates which measures progress towards gender equity in literacy and the level of learning opportunities available for women in relation to those available to men. It serves also as a significant indicator of the empowerment of women in society.


References:
  • March, C., Smyth I., Mukhopadhyay M., A Guide to Gender-Analysis Frameworks; Oxfam, 1999
  • Status of Women Canada, Gender-Based Analysis: A guide for policy-making, 1996
  • UNIFEM; Focusing on Women –UNIFEM’s experience in mainstreaming, 1993
  • Molyneux, Maxine ‘Mobilisation without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, States and Revolution in Nicargua’; Feminist Studies II, 2, 1985.
  • OECD,  DAC Source Book on Concepts and Approaches Linked to Gender Equality





















Last updated April 2003

Tuesday 25 August 2015

COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST FOR POLI 343: INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL RESEARCH

                                                       
                                                Department of Political Science
School of Social Sciences
College of Humanities
First Semester, 2015/2016 Academic Year
Lecturer: Dr. Isaac Owusu-Mensah
Course Title
Introduction to Political Research
Course Code
Poli 343
Purpose and Objectives
The course is intended to introduce students to philosophies underpinning social science research. The purpose of this course is to give students a firm grounding in the fundamentals of political research and to familiarize students with a range of typical research designs and processes in political science. Consequently, students will be provided with the core foundation of research and skills that can be applied in an academic setting or work.

OBJECTIVES:
  • To provide an introduction to different theories of and approaches to carrying out social research with specific emphasis on political research methodology.
  • To understand the philosophy and logic underlying social science research.
  • To appreciate the principles that guide design and evaluation of social science research.
  • To be confident in applying appropriate research methods to answer social and political issues.


Week No.
Date
Lecture Course
Tutorials
Venue
Assessment
1
17th  and 18th August  2015
Introduction to course
a.       Administrative elements of the course/Course structure
b.      What is and what is not a research.

Lecture:  JQB 14  and City Campus


2
24th  and 25th August 2015
Political Research
Qualitative Research


Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


3
31st August  and 1st September 2015
Qualitative Research

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus

4
7th  and 8th September 2015
Quantitative Research

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus

5
14th  and 15th October 2014
Quantitative Research

Lecture:

6
21st and 22nd  September, 2015
Mixed Methods

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


7
28th and 29th  September 2015
Research Design

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus
Interim Assessment (30%)
8
5th and 6th October, 2015
Research Design

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


9
12th and 13th October 2015
Introduction
The significance and use in various research designs:
a.       Quantitative
b.      Qualitative
c.       Mixed Methods

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


10
19th and 20th  October 2015
Statement of the Problem in Research
Designing and defining a research question

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus




11
26th and 27th  October, 2015
Hypotheses
The significance and use of hypothesis in various research designs:
d.      Quantitative
e.      Qualitative
f.        Mixed Methods

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


12
2nd  and 3rd November, 2015
Theory
The significance and use of theory in various research designs:
a.       Quantitative
b.      Qualitative
c.       Mixed Methods
Types of theories
Levels of theory

Lecture: JQB 14 and City Campus


13
9th and 10th November 2015
Revision
Revision
Lecture: JQB 14


Exam (70%)

KEY Reference Texts: 
1.       Leedy, P.D and Ormrod, J. E. ( 2010).  Practical Research: Planning and Design. Ninth Edition.  New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. pp: 1-7.
2.       Kreuger L. W and Lawrence Neuman, W (2003).  Social Work Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Applications.  Boston: Pearson Education Inc. pp. 11-16 (Steps of the Research Process)
3.       Creswell, J.W (2009).  Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. Third Edition.  London: Sage Publishing Inc. Chapter One: The Selection of Research Design pp 1-20
4.       Dawson, C (2011).  Introduction to Research Methods: A practical guide to anyone undertaking a research project.  Oxford: How To Books Ltd pp. 1-8
5.       May, T (2010).  Social Research: Issues, Methods and Process.  New York: Open University Press. Chapter One: Perspective on Social scientific research pp. 7-27.
6.       Wolfer, L (2007).  Real Research: Conducting and Evaluating Research in the Social Sciences.  Boston: Pearson Education Inc.  pp 13-18.
7.       Blaikie, Norman (2010).  Designing Social Research: The Logic of Anticipation. Second Edition.  Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 124-147
8.       Punch, K.F (2005).  Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches.  Second Edition.  London: Sage Publications Ltd.   pp. 37-39