Introduction to Public Policy and Administration

This course provides students with an introduction to the key theoretical concepts needed to describe public policies, analyse the factors shaping their development, and understand how public administrations, in interaction with other societal actors, contribute to policymaking processes. The course is structured around four main components:

• Foundations of public policy: policy cycle, policy instruments, and policy design. 
• Foundations of public administration: origins and development of state bureaucracies, administrative traditions, and contemporary transformations of public administration, including New Public Management, New Public Governance, and Neo-Weberian State approaches. 
• Public action and policymaking: actors, institutions, interests, ideas, power relations, and interactions shaping policy processes. 
• Theories of the policy process: introduction to the Multiple Streams Framework, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, Institutional Analysis and Development, Narrative Policy Framework, and Advocacy Coalition Framework as complementary lenses for explaining policy change, stability, and dynamics.

The aim of the course is to equip students with the theoretical and analytical tools needed to understand policymaking processes and analyse how public administrations, in interaction with societal actors, shape and influence policy outcomes.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Describe the main stages, instruments, and design choices involved in policymaking. 
• Understand the origins, evolution, and contemporary transformations of public administration. 
• Identify and analyse the actors, institutions, interests, ideas, and interactions shaping public action. 
• Explain policy change, stability, and dynamics using major theories of the policy process. 
• Apply and combine these theoretical frameworks to analyse concrete public policy cases.

Required and Corequired knowledge and skills

Prior knowledge of public law, political science, and political economy is an asset, as it can help students engage more easily with the material. However, this background is not mandatory. The course is designed to be accessible to students from a variety of academic disciplines (e.g. sociology, economics, management), provided they are motivated to familiarize themselves with the key concepts introduced during the sessions.

The course is delivered through auditorium-based lectures combining theoretical concepts with their application to concrete policy cases. Cases cover different policy areas, including major public projects, digital innovation, sustainable urban development, government transparency, and EU policies. External speakers, including practitioners and sectoral policy experts, complement the lectures by providing specialised knowledge and first-hand experience of policymaking and public administration.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

The following books provide general reference points for the course. More specific readings related to the topics and policy areas covered in each session are provided via the UV platform.

• Capano, G., & Howlett, M. (Eds.). (2020). A Modern Guide to Public Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Kuhlmann, S., Wollmann, H., & Reiter, R. (2025). Introduction to Comparative Public Administration: Administrative Systems and Reforms in Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Weible, C. M. (Ed.). (2023). Theories of the Policy Process. Taylor & Francis.

Contacts

E-mail: Giovanni.esposito@ulb.be

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• Other

Other

The course is assessed through a multiple-choice exam, with questions designed to evaluate four dimensions of learning: knowledge (recall of definitions), understanding (linking examples to concepts), application (using models/theories to solve problems), and analysis (extracting key elements from cases to make a diagnosis).

Language(s) of evaluation

• english