Understanding Public Policy (in 1000 and 500 words)

By James Nicholls and Paul Cairney, for the University of Stirling MPH and MPP programmes. There are strong links between the study of public health and public policy. For example, public health scholars often draw on policy theories to help explain (often low amounts of) policy change to foster population health or reduce health inequalities. Studies include a general focus on pub

The eight (and final) of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the  1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This brief lecture is on the role of policymaking environments and the theories that describe them (also based on text in Chapter 13): "The second part of our universal story i

The seventh of a series of podcasts tying together 500 Words posts. This lecture is on the distinction between comprehensive/ bounded rationality and how policy actors deal with bounded rationality. It is based on text in Chapter 13, including: "Theories also describe different ways in which responses to bounded rationality affect policymaking behaviour: • Policymakers can only p

The sixth of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the  1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This lecture is on using ‘evolutionary theory‘ to connect Multiple Streams Analysis, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, and Complexity Theory Relevant posts: Policy Concepts in 1000 Words:

The fifth of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the  1000 Wordspodcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This lecture is on Policy in 500 Words: The Advocacy Coalition Framework  Here is the ACF story. People engage in politics to turn their beliefs into policy. They form advocacy coaliti

The fourth of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the 1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This brief lecture is on the relationship between rational choice theory, game theory, the IAD, the SES, and Ecology of Games Relevant posts: Policy Concepts in 1000 Words: Rational Choice and

The third of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the 1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This brief lecture describes bounded rationality and its implications for power/ knowledge, the NPF and SCPD Relevant posts: Policy in 500 words: uncertainty versus ambiguity Policy in 500 Words

The second of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the 1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students (although, just to confuse you, this podcasts connects to a 1000 Word post) . This brief lecture is on multi-centric policymaking, as described fully in Making Policy in a Complex World. From Po

The first of a series of podcasts tying together multiple 500 Words posts. They’ll sound a bit different from the 1000 Words podcasts because I recorded them in front of our MPP students. This brief lecture is on defining and measuring public policy and policy change. The relevant posts are: Policy in 500 Words: what is public policy and why does it matter? Policy in 500 Wor

From Policy Concepts in 1000 words: Critical Policy Studies and the Narrative Policy Framework ‘Critical policy analysis’ (or studies’) is a broad term to describe a wide collection of texts, and it is difficult to come up with a definitive account, beyond the idea that it is perhaps based on the equally broad description ‘post-positivism’ and methods such as discour