GV924-7-SP-CO:
The Politics of Public Policy
2025/26
Government
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Monday 12 January 2026
Friday 20 March 2026
15
23 April 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
MPP L43012 The Essex MPP,
MPP L43024 The Essex MPP,
MPP L430EB The Essex MPP,
MPP L430JS The Essex MPP,
MA L14312 Economics with Public Policy,
MSC L2P312 Politics, Communications and Data Analytics
This module introduces the main political arenas and actors that shape public policy in democratic states and beyond.
Students will analyse and debate political conflicts around policymaking in the core arenas of democratic government including elections, parliaments, governments, the bureaucracy, and the judicial system. They will examine the public policy role of interest groups and civil society and explore policymaking beyond and outside of formal governmental arenas as well as in non-democratic states.
The aims of this module are:
- To introduce the main political actors and institutions involved in policy making and to scrutinise their interplay.
- To debate theoretical and analytical perspectives on political conflicts around public policy.
- To examine the drivers and mechanisms of policy making beyond and outside of formal governmental arenas and the relations between the state and private interests and among public institutions.
- To acquire and practice the application of analytical skills to analyse specific policy processes.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Demonstrate a comprehensive awareness of a wide range of political arenas, actors, and institutions that shape public policy.
- Demonstrate fluency in theoretical building blocks of how policies are made.
- Demonstrate analytical skills to examine specific policy processes and conflicts theoretically and empirically.
- Demonstrate the ability to research, analyse, and present policy case studies independently.
No additional information available.
The module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour seminar per week.
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‘Prediction policy problems’ (no date). Available at:
https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151023.
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‘How Research Affects Policy: Experimental Evidence from 2,150 Brazilian Municipalities’ (no date).
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How We Analyzed the COMPAS Recidivism Algorithm (no date).
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Nudge: The Final Edition (2022). Shi Bao Chu Ban.
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‘The zero-rent society: Evidence from hydropower and petroleum windfalls in Norwegian local governments’ (no date).
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From Satellite to Village, Turning Data into Action (no date).
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‘Cross-border troubles? Interstate river conflicts and intrastate violence’ (no date).
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Bittle, J. (2024) Great Displacement. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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‘Creating climate coalitions: mass preferences for compensating vulnerability in the world’s two largest democracies’ (no date).
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‘Aligning artificial intelligence with climate change mitigation’ (no date).
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‘The Office of Management and Budget: The Quarterback of Evidence-Based Policy in the Federal Government’ (no date).
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‘Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation’ (no date).
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‘Combining Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning To Predict Poverty’ (no date).
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Weapons of mass deportation: Big data and automated decision-making systems in immigration law (no date).
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‘Big data for whose sake? Governing migration through artificial intelligence’ (no date).
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‘International migration management in the age of artificial intelligence’ (no date).
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‘Do public fund windfalls increase corruption? Evidence from a natural disaster’ (no date).
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How AI-powered maps help improve vaccination campaigns and rural electrification (no date).
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‘Social media interventions for precision public health: promises and risks’ (no date).
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‘A Brief History of Evidence-Based Policy”’ (no date).
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‘Better Government, Better Science: The Promise of And Challenges Facing the Evidence-Informed Policy Movement’ (no date).
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Bogenschneider, K. and Corbett, T. (2021) Evidence-Based Policymaking?: Envisioning a New Era Of Theory, Research, and Practice. Second Edition.
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‘The Promise of Data-Driven Policymaking’ (no date).
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‘The Opportunity Atlas: Mapping the Childhood Roots Of Social Mobility’ (no date).
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‘Using Population Data Systems to Target Vulnerable Population Subgroups and Individuals: Issues and Incidents’ (no date).
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‘Digital Dystopia’ (no date).
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‘The Politics of Experimentation: Political Competition and Randomized Controlled Trials’ (no date).
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‘(Don’t) leave politics out of it: Reflections on public policies, experiments, and interventions’ (no date).
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Salganik, M.J. (2019) Bit by bit: Social research in the digital age.
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‘Policy Beyond Evidence’ (no date).
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‘Do Policy Makers Listen to Experts? Evidence from a National Survey of Local and State Policy Makers’ (no date).
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‘Biased Policy Professionals’ (no date).
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Critical Writing Reaction Paper 1 |
|
25% |
| Coursework |
Critical Writing Reaction Paper 2 |
|
25% |
| Coursework |
Pre Analysis Plan Peer Assessment |
|
10% |
| Coursework |
Pre Analysis Plan Paper |
|
40% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Module leader: TBC
govpgquery@essex.ac.uk
Yes
No
Yes
Dr Adrian Florea
University of Glasgow
Senior Lecturer in International Relations
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
Government
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
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