PrF:LA203Zk Public Policy in the European - Course Information

LA203Zk Public Policy in the European Area

Extent and Intensity

0/0. 10 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).

Teacher(s)

prof. PhDr. Stanislav Balík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Markéta Pitrová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Jiří Winkler, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. PhDr. Markéta Pitrová, Ph.D.
Faculty of Law
Contact Person: Bc. Alžběta Rašková
Supplier department: Faculty of Law

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• MPA - Master of Public Administration (programme PrF, C-CV)

Course objectives

Aims of the Module: • Showing how discourses influence reality, identifying social problems and the ways of dealing with them (legitimization and institutionalization). • Being introduced to the concepts of social exclusion, social inclusion and social cohesion and reflecting their contributions and risks to public policy. • Discussing the spatial aspect of social exclusion and the issue of the ethnic, cultural and religious varieties as a big challenge to the public policy in the Czech Republic and reflecting the problem of unintended consequences of the intended measures of public policy. • Learning methods of analyses of social problems. • Contributing to the knowledge and definition of the current state of selected social and public problems the solution of which significantly involves public administration workers. • Increasing the capability of reflecting ethic approaches used in solving social and public problems and strengthening the capability of evaluating the quality of political and administrative measures in public administrative bodies. • Analyzing and understanding functions of the local and regional levels of public administration. • Contributing to understanding mutual relationships among policy-makers at the local and regional levels. • Understanding the European institutional hierarchy and the position of individual institutions within the legislative process. • Providing an overview of methods and lobbying strategies at the European supranational level. After completion of the module the students should be able to: • understand the terminology of analyzing and creating public programs • have knowledge of the content and rhetoric of the basic documents of the EU • have knowledge of the procedures of defining social and public problems • understanding various procedures of analyzing and evaluating public programs • be able to formulate criteria for judging the extent and depth of social and public problems in society • understand the institutional hierarchy of the EU and its access points • comprehend the principles of representation of interests and gaining the basic instructions how to proceed in the arena of euro lobbying

Syllabus

• • The definition of social problems and aims of public policies. How an identification of problems and an explanation of the basic concepts express the desired model of society and influence the approach to those problems. • The concepts of social exclusion, social inclusion and social cohesion as a change of perception and aims of public policies (the problem of institutionalization and legitimization). An analysis of the main motives of that shift within the context of social changes in Europe and the vision of the EU executive and the problem of discourse transformation. Understanding the key documents of the Czech Republic derived from the respective documents of the European Union. • Possibilities and limitations of public policies. Discussing the phenomenon of unintended consequences of public policies, their particular agendas and individual decisions. • The concepts of social exclusion, social inclusion and social cohesion and their impact on two selected questions which are big problems nowadays: (1) the spatial aspect of social exclusion and its tendency to gain the form of ethnic exclusion – how the concept of culture of poverty is useful/-less in that; and (2) how to put up with the different nature of cultures, religions, life styles – how this is related to the social and cultural differentiation and migration – how the concept of multiculturalism is useful/-less in that. • An introduction to the theory of public programs: social problems and the procedure of solving them. • An introduction to the theory of public decision-making: The wording (defining) of a problem and forming the program agenda. • The role of expertise in solving public problems. • The social diagnosis and an analysis of needs of social and public programs, the procedure and evaluation of the planning of a social program. • Public administration, territorial self-government and functions of regional and local self-governments in the Czech Republic. • Institutions and participants of regional and local self-governments in the Czech Republic. • Mutual relationships among participants of regional and local self-government, the EU decision-making procedure. • The principal participants and access channels in the mechanism of asserting one’s interests at the supranational level. • The strategy of asserting one’s interests: tactics, methods and mechanisms of the Euro-lobby activities.

Literature

recommended literature
• MAREŠ, Petr and Tomáš SIROVÁTKA. Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy in the Czech Republic. Social Policy and Administration. Velká Británie: Blackwell, 2006, vol. 40, No 3, p. 288-303. ISSN 0144-5596. info
• MAREŠ, Petr and Tomáš SIROVÁTKA. Poverty, Social Exclusion and Social Policy in the Czech Republic. Social Policy and Administration. Velká Británie: Blackwell, 2006, vol. 40, No 3, p. 288-303. ISSN 0144-5596. info
• BERGER, Peter L. and Thomas LUCKMANN. Sociální konstrukce reality :pojednání o sociologii vědění. Translated by Jiří Svoboda. 1. vyd. Brno: Centrum pro studium demokracie a kultury, 1999, 214 s. ISBN 80-85959-46-1. info

Teaching methods

Range of Modes of Contacts: Lectures, use of commented presentations, group discussions, group seminar activities, brainstorming, case studies. Range of Other Learning Methods: Independent learning, self-study, elaboration of the written assignment, individual consultations.

Assessment methods

Type and Weighting of Assessment Elements: 100 % written assignment Further information on assessment Active participation in module seminars includes the debate concerning individual topics, which is highly appreciated, the knowledge of case studies, written assignments. Expected Form of Feedback: Formative and summative feedback will be provided to each student individually. Written comments with individual coursework assignments. Oral feedback upon request.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further Comments

The course is taught each semester.

• Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2013, recent)
  
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