PCY1002

Public policy: theories and issues

Dennis Woodward
6 points - 3 hours per week - Second semester - Caulfield

Objectives On completion of this subject, the student will be expected to have gained the ability to develop an awareness of our legal system, its purposes and its organisation; appreciate various types of law, including its application, and the legal standards of decision-making as social control; assess and review the functions of legal systems and institutions in Australia, and to appreciate the operation of community alternatives to formal legal processes. On successful completion of this subject students should have developed an understanding of the theories formulated to explain the formation of public policy; an understanding of the public policy environment, the role of the state and the impact of economics on policy formation; the ability to make the links between theory and practice in the public policy field; and have developed the skills to argue coherently both orally and in written form on relevant theoretical issues.

Synopsis The objective of this subject is to familiarise students with the structures and purposes of the Australian legal system - particularly in relation to the policing process. The subject will analyse the development and organisation of the law and legal systems including review of the legal profession, courts and tribunals; legal and social systems and law enforcement agencies; common law and statute law. analysis will also be made of prevailing legal themes in terms of current social policies and issues. This subject is designed to make students conversant with the various theories which have been developed to explain the formation and implementation of public policy. Topics covered will include the rise of neo-classical economics and its influence on managerialism and contracturalism; analysis of the nature of the state focusing particularly on elitist, pluralist and corporatist theories; the nature of power and the issue of non-decision making; decision-making theories, rational planning, incrementalism, mixed scanning and public choice theory; and the nature of policy communities/networks.

Assessment Essay (2000 words): 40% - Examination (2 hours): 40% - Class presentation (500 words), tutorial attendance and participation: 20%Essay (2000 words): 40% Tutorial participation: 20% Examination (2 hours): 40%

Recommended texts

Hill M The policy process in the modern state 3rd edn, Prentice-Hall, 1997Maher, Waller and Derham Legal process: Commentary and materials 6th edn, by M D H Smith, K S Pose and T L Bryant, Law Book, 1991

Back to the 1999 Arts Handbook