The academic world of French policy studies: training, teaching and researching

Policy Analysis in France ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447324218.003.0017 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Patrick Hassenteufel ◽

Patrick Le Galès

Keyword(s):

Policy Analysis ◽

Political Science ◽

Policy Research ◽

Policy Advice ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Academic World ◽

Administrative Positions ◽

Knowledge And Skills ◽

Specific Policy ◽

Shed Light

This chapter provides an analysis of the different contributions of French Universities (and other academic institutions, especially the “Instituts d’Études Politiques”) to the teaching of policy analysis, to the training of policy analysis specialists, to research in policy analysis, and to policy advice. It focuses on two closely related academic disciplines in France: political science and sociology. The chapter starts by questioning the extent to which and in which ways policy analysis as a sub-discipline is integrated into the teaching of political science and sociology. The focus then turns to the development of a specialized policy analysis master in political science and sociology, which can be related to broader evolutions, including transformations in the access to top administrative positions, the development of local public policies in France, and the professionalization of French Universities. The aim here is to shed light on the kind of knowledge and skills taught and on the positions students find after leaving universities and Sciences Po. By studying the involvement of political scientists and sociologists in public commissions and specific policy expertise structures outside the academic world, it also explores the relationships between policy research and policy advice.

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Teaching Biology, Policy Analysis, and Politics in a Biotechnology Policy Course

Politics and the Life Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0730938400011357 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 105-107

Author(s):

David J. Webber

Keyword(s):

Policy Analysis ◽

Political Science ◽

Public Policies ◽

Policy Issue ◽

State Legislators ◽

Policy Issues ◽

Specific Policy ◽

Teaching Biology ◽

Journalism Students

This Political Science course, titled “Policy Issues Surrounding Biotechnology,” set out to describe, explain, and evaluate public policies that regulate and support applications of biotechnology in agriculture and medicine. Only a few students had a basic familiarity with biotechnology and none had a strong science background. Most of the 25 political science and journalism students took the junior-senior level course not because of an interest in biotechnology but because they wanted to study a specific policy issue in some depth. The students jointly prepared a 56-page report and presented it to a panel of Missouri state legislators in a mock legislative hearing in April, 1991.

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Policy Analysis: A Note of Disbelief

British Journal of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0007123400008255 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 389-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Richard Minns

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Policy Analysis ◽

Political Science ◽

Review Article ◽

Public Authority ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

The Political ◽

Policy Studies

In his review article on policy analysis [Hugh Heclo, ‘Policy Analysis’, this Journal, II (1972), 83–108], Heclo describes public policy as ‘necessarily at the heart of the political scientist’s concern’. But because public policy ‘is concerned with metachoices’ – ‘choices as to how others shall make choices in whatever sphere public authority is intervening’ – ‘the study of policy therefore necessarily straddles a number of previously distinct academic disciplines’.‘However, I wonder to what extent political scientists are willing to take part in a ‘coherent “interdiscipline” of policy studies’. Heclo quotes Vernon Van Dyke’s warning that the prospect of this for political scientists is ‘appalling’.2 If we examine firstly what political science has to offer in policy analysis and secondly what policy analysis itself has to offer, I feel that Van Dyke will suddenly find himself with massive support.

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Educating Policy Analysts

News for Teachers of Political Science ◽

10.1017/s0197901900003810 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

pp. 1-3

Author(s):

Hindy Lauer Schacter

Keyword(s):

Policy Analysis ◽

Engineering Education ◽

Political Science ◽

Real World ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

Basic Sciences ◽

Optimal Policies ◽

Policy Analysts ◽

Real World Problems

This article explores the role of political science in educating people who perform policy analysis in public bureaucracies. Policy analysts are defined as applied scientists who study the nature, causes and effects for alternative public policies, using relevant academic disciplines, theories and methodologies to choose optimal policies to achieve a given aim. Typically, analysts evaluate enacted policies but occasionally they compare hypothetical alternatives.The education of policy analysts is similar to the education of engineers. Both draw on several basic sciences for information to solve real-world problems. However, greater consensus exists on which sciences are important for engineers. Their key science is physics although engineering education also uses insights from chemistry, geology and biology.

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International Court Authority

10.1093/oso/9780198795582.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mikael Rask Madsen

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Political Science ◽

International Criminal ◽

Contextual Factors ◽

Academic Disciplines ◽

International Courts ◽

International Court ◽

Context Shapes ◽

Criminal Matters ◽

Over Time

Identifying the “varied authority” of international adjudicators as a common object of inquiry, this book develops a framework to conceptualize and analyze international court authority with the goal of assessing how contextual factors affect international courts’ authority, and therby their political and legal influence. Scholars drawn from a range of academic disciplines—namely law, political science, and sociology—have contributed to this book and examine the varied authority of thirteen international courts with jurisdictions that range from economic to human rights, to international criminal matters. Interdisciplinary commentaries reflect on what the framework and findings imply for the study of international court authority and legitimacy. Focusing on both global and regional adjudicatory systems, the chapters explore different ways in which contextual factors contribute to the fragility of each court’s authority over time and across the breadth of their jurisdiction. A conclusion pulls together the collective insights of how context shapes the authority of international courts.

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Conducting health policy analysis in primary care research: turning clinical ideas into action

Family Medicine and Community Health ◽

10.1136/fmch-2018-000076 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. e000076 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Alina Engelman ◽

Ben Case ◽

Lisa Meeks ◽

Michael D Fetters

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Health Policy ◽

Policy Analysis ◽

Pap Smear ◽

Policy Research ◽

Primary Care Providers ◽

Care Providers ◽

Total Hysterectomy ◽

Health Policy Analysis ◽

Pap Smear Screening

Healthcare guidelines play a prominent role in the day-to-day practice of primary care providers, and health policy research leads to the formation of these guidelines. Health policy research is the multidisciplinary approach to public policy explaining the interaction between health institutions, special interests and theoretical constructs. In this article, we demonstrate how primary care providers can conduct high-impact health policy research using Eugene Bardach’s eightfold policy analysis framework in a primary care context. In a medical case, a woman with a history of total hysterectomy had scheduled a visit for a Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening test as part of a well-woman health check-up with a family medicine resident. Conflicting recommendations on Pap smear screening after total hysterectomy sparked an investigation using the US Preventive Services Task Force criteria for conducting a health policy analysis. We illustrate broadly how clinical care dilemmas can be examined by using Bardach’s broadly applicable health policy framework in order to inform meaningful policy change. Bardach’s framework includes (1) defining the problem, (2) assembling evidence, (3) constructing alternatives, (4) selecting criteria, (5) projecting outcomes, (6) confronting trade-offs, (7) decision-making and (8) sharing the results of the process. The policy analysis demonstrated insufficient evidence to recommend Pap test screening after hysterectomy and the findings contributed to national recommendations. By following Bardach’s steps, primary care researchers have a feasible and powerful tool for conducting meaningful health policy research and analysis that can influence clinical practice.

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Hard-to-Survey Populations and Respondent-Driven Sampling: Expanding the Political Science Toolbox

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s1537592719003864 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 509-526

Author(s):

Rana B. Khoury

Keyword(s):

Political Science ◽

The Political ◽

Science Methods ◽

Respondent Driven Sampling ◽

Right Wing ◽

Undocumented Migrants ◽

Multimethod Research ◽

Political Preferences ◽

Population Inference ◽

Shed Light

Survey research can generate knowledge that is central to the study of collective action, public opinion, and political participation. Unfortunately, many populations—from undocumented migrants to right-wing activists and oligarchs—are hidden, lack sampling frames, or are otherwise hard to survey. An approach to hard-to-survey populations commonly taken by researchers in other disciplines is largely missing from the toolbox of political science methods: respondent-driven sampling (RDS). By leveraging relations of trust, RDS accesses hard-to-survey populations; it also promotes representativeness, systematizes data collection, and, notably, supports population inference. In approximating probability sampling, RDS makes strong assumptions. Yet if strengthened by an integrative multimethod research design, it can shed light on otherwise concealed—and critical—political preferences and behaviors among many populations of interest. Through describing one of the first applications of RDS in political science, this article provides empirically grounded guidance via a study of activist refugees from Syria. Refugees are prototypical hard-to-survey populations, and mobilized ones are even more so; yet the study demonstrates that RDS can provide a systematic and representative account of a vulnerable population engaged in major political phenomena.

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Collaborative Governance and Civic Empowerment: A Discussion of Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance

Perspectives on Politics ◽

10.1017/s1537592710000447 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 605-607

Author(s):

Patrick J. Deneen

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Political Science ◽

Political Legitimacy ◽

Collaborative Governance ◽

Third Way ◽

Policy Analysts ◽

Shed Light

Whether as a solution to problems of political legitimacy or social mistrust, as a way of involving civil society, or as a method of crafting more effective “third way” policies, collaborative governance has been a topic of renewed interest for political scientists and policy intellectuals. Carmen Sirianni's Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in Collaborative Governance (Brookings, 2009) is an important new book that raises many of these issues. Perspectives on Politics is a forum for raising questions of interest to a broad range of political scientists. In this symposium, we have asked a number of prominent political scientists and policy analysts to assess the book and to address two broader questions: in what ways does the book draw from and add to political science scholarship, and in what ways does political science scholarship help to shed light on the book's core themes?

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