Unit information: Public policy for a complex and uncertain world in 2023/24

Unit name	Public policy for a complex and uncertain world
Unit code	SPOLM0043
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Alex Marsh
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School for Policy Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

Policymakers face a number of structural developments - such as population ageing, increasing inequality or climate change - which present profound systemic challenges crosscutting traditional departmental boundaries. There is increasing interest in how thinking about such long term developments can be integrated into policy alongside short term imperatives driven by electoral politics and the news cycle. This debate goes under a number of headings including strategic foresight, horizon scanning, and policy futures. Looking to the long term means that the policymaker must deal with world in which uncertainty, rather than risk, is pervasive. Policymakers must act in the face of the partially known, the unknown, and the unknowable. Consideration of longer term trends and challenges raises questions about the capacity and capabilities of policy systems: Do governments have access to the analytical skills needed to do useful futures work? Do they have the leadership and strategic capacity to develop and deliver policy that can effectively account for and address these complex systemic issues? In the background sits a more fundamental question: What sorts of useful knowledge can be derived from futures work?

This unit aims to provide an overview of a range of futures techniques and a critical understanding of the challenges associated with applying them to policy processes, both in a national and global context.

The unit will allow students to:

• develop their understanding of the nature of public strategy and leadership
• deepen their understanding of the drivers of the policy process
• examine the scope for integrating longer term thinking into policymaking alongside short-term drivers, including an appreciation of the organisational and institutional challenges associated with doing so
• reflect on the nature of complex social systems and the extent to which policy can exert predictable influence over them
• examine a selection of the practical tools available for futures work in policymaking, including developing an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses

Your learning on this unit

By the end of the unit, students should be able to:

• give a critical account of the nature of public leadership and strategy, contrasting them with comparable practices in the private sector
• explain the scope for integrating longer term thinking into policymaking, including demonstrating an understanding of the organisational and institutional challenges associated with doing so
• give a critical account of different ways of understanding complexity and social systems, and how these different understandings influence thinking about the ways in which policy can exert predictable influence over such systems
• explain how a selection practical tools for futures work could be applied to policymaking, including demonstrating an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses
• demonstrate the ability to apply a futures method in a policy context
• give a critical account of the ontological and epistemological commitments associated with futures methods.

How you will learn

Interactive lectures and seminars, including groupwork; online discussion via VLE.

How you will be assessed

4,000 word written assignment which tests the learning outcomes of the unit.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. SPOLM0043).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.