Politics, Governance and Public Policy

How do policymakers actually make policy? What are the effects on governance, and how do governing systems in turn shape policymaking? This course helps you answer these questions at every level of governance where political authority is exercised, from the very smallest local authority to large international organisations. It balances state-of-the-art academic theory with real-world practice to prepare you for working in the world of policymaking.

Course description

On this course you'll explore the complexity of contemporary governance. You will examine its effects on the policymaking process, the multiplicity of actors involved in it, the powers they have to affect it and the constraints under which they operate.

You'll be guided by expert academic staff who specialise in governance and public policy. Together, you will address the following questions:

• What can different kinds of policymakers, operating in different governing contexts, actually achieve?
• How does global development policy designed at the UN or the World Bank influence on-the-ground practice in recipient countries?
• Why are more and more public governance functions taken on by private actors, and who wins and loses from this process?
• Where should governing authority for particular policies be located between the sub-national, national and international level?
• What theories and concepts can we utilise to help us better understand these processes?

This degree attracts a hugely diverse student body. Some students may have already studied politics and public policy previously and want to further their knowledge. Others have come from other social science backgrounds and wish to specialise, while bringing knowledge and theory from an alternate academic perspective.

We also welcome students with no academic experience in the subject, who might have experience working in a diverse array of sectors such as the military, petrochemicals or financial risk compliance, and wish to further their knowledge of how and why the public policy process functions in the way that it does.

If this sounds like you, and you’re fascinated by the questions of how policy is governed and what policymakers can achieve, then this is the degree for you.

Please see our University website for the most up-to-date course information: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses