European Public Administration / Spring

COURSE INFORMATION – FIRST HALF OF SEMESTER

Europe in crisis? – 15 EC (track European Studies)

This course addresses the challenges the European Union faces in the post-crises era, both economically and in terms of institutional capacity. Topics dealt with are: how the 2004 - 2008 crises did arise and their impact, crisis management by EU institutions, the debate om European economic governance. Students can choose between two projects with different themes: 1) Lessons from te Eurozone crisis; exit Maastricht, 2) Beyond austerity: the future of Social Europe.

Policy-making and planning – 15 EC (track Public Administration)

Very often large projects (for example in the field of construction, infrastructure , ICT, health, education, social policy, anti-terrorism) take highly unexpected turns, become uncontrollable in terms of cost, and finally appear to lack any legitimacy from citizens, This course explains why this the case, turning to evidence-based models from the fields of law, political science and pubic administration, and what we can learn from these models for real-life projects and their design. In the project, students work on a real-life case of political decision-making and policy implementation in a specific field that is offered for the course.

COURSE INFORMATION – SECOND HALF OF SEMESTER

The European Union and the World – 15 EC (track European Studies)

This course addresses the question if the EU is a frontrunner or a fortress. The EU is becoming an active global player, but at the same time is struggling with its openness to the world. Students can choose between two projects: 1) The EU Inside-Out, the project will focus on topics in which the EUs external action is driven an defined by internal constraints, 2) The EU Outside-In, the project will focus in topics in which external developments force the EU to reconsider its openness towards the world.

Street-level governance – 15 EC (track Public Administration)

There is a variety of alternatives for the classical professional centred approach to public service delivery, including de-professionalisation, co-production of services and citizen initiatives. In this course we focus on the dynamics of interactions between citizens and professionals in the context of the governance of social problems. In the first part of the courses we will focus on the perspective of professionals, in the second part our focus shifts to citizens. The third part is a project where students will conduct empirical research about the interactions between citizens and professionals and will learn when and how citizens and professionals can successfully cooperate in dealing with important public issues.