Course Description

Core Courses

Theories and Approaches of Comparative Politics (3 credits)

This course attempts a general survey in the field of comparative politics. Some important concepts and methods of the discipline are introduced. Specific topics include methods and approaches of comparative politics; government, regime and state; unitary, federal and confederal systems; typologies of state-society relations, specifically on bureaucratic- authoritarianism, totalitarianism, corporatism, civil society and populism; political culture and nationalism; interest group and political party; election and political participation; parliamentary, presidential and semi-presidential systems; comparative democracies between majoritarian and consociational model; and lastly on the topic of democratisation and regime change.

Governance, Management and Delivery (3 credits)

This course is designed to explore how the nature of governance, management, and delivery across the globe differs and how such differences shape the policymaking process. Much of the teaching in this course will be based around the analysis of case studies and the assessment builds directly on these.

Policy Processes and Analysis (3 credits)

This course aims to enable students to understand the policy process and identify, analyse, and evaluate major policy issues. The course consists of two parts: policy process and studies on major policy issues. For the first part, the policy process is considered in a very broad context – from the evolution of an idea and the enactment of legislation, to program implementation and evaluation. Students will study major steps in the policy processes, from issue identification, policy decision-making, policy implementation, to policy evaluation. In the second part of the course, key policy issues will be discussed further, including education, healthcare, welfare etc. This course will further show how quantitative and qualitative analyses could be performed in policy studies. After taking the course, students will be expected to be able to analyse major policy issues from an analytical perspective.

Research Methods in Public Management (3 credits)

This course is designed to introduce students to a wide range of empirical research methods in public management. Topics will include concept formation, theory development and testing, the design of data collection activities, data visualisation, qualitative interviews, fieldwork, basic qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques and causal inference. Throughout the semester, students will develop a research paper based on self-collected survey data.

Public Policy Lab (3 credits)

This course is designed to help students understand the basics of public policy development, initiation, implementation, and assessment across different countries. This course provides students with an overview of the numerous theories, models, and methodologies used by academics and practitioners in the field of policy studies. Comparative case analyses will help students understand how the characteristics of public policy differ in achieving goals, delivering services, and evaluating their effectiveness across countries (or across localities) and how they influence policymakers’ attitudes and behaviour, organisational performance, and other outcomes. This course also exposes students to analysing policy issues related to the introduction of information technology in public management. Special attention will be given to reflect on increasingly smart governance issues, especially citizens’ concerns about privacy and data management during policy implementation. By engaging in in-class discussions and extracurricular activities, each student will interact and work closely with the lab instructor through desk crits, pin-ups, and formal reviews. Students will be encouraged to conduct small-scale research on a variety of public policy topics and to attend field trips and seminars with policymakers and practitioners from various professions. By completing this course, students will be able to recognise and define public policy issues across different countries, examine public policy issues in which they are interested in, and provide good suggestions on how such issues could be addressed or solved.

Comparative Public Administration Capstone Project and Symposium Presentation (6 credits)

The course is meant to provide students with an opportunity to reflectively and practically integrate the lessons from other policy related courses. It focuses on the public policy issues that a society faces by identifying and thoroughly analysing the causes and consequences of various social problems and the opportunities and limitations for policy responses to them. This course has been divided into two parts. The first part comprises an intensive comparative methodological lesson on researching various policy issues. Students will be taken through different methodologies and analytical techniques. In the second part, students will be expected to work individually or in groups to carry out short empirical research based on primary or secondary data.

Elective Courses

China’s Regional Development: Comparative Perspectives (3 credits)

This course aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of China’s regional development from a comparative perspective. It will provide students with a set of commonly used concepts in understanding regional development in China and teach students basic analytical skills with examples and data. The course focus on not only the system of cities but also vast rural areas in China. The topics include social inclusion, migration, economic development, urbanisation, globalisation, education, governance, and financialisation. Lecture materials are based on not only different metropolises in China, e.g. Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, etc. ranging from emerging to highly developed international metropolises but also rural areas. Based on explicit development models in these topical areas, the course will examine the various forces and factors that influence regional development and explores interdisciplinary approaches and tools for interventions in response to critical pressures and challenges.

Social Development and Policy Change in Asia (3 credits)

This course introduces students to recent social changes with particular attention given to compare and contrast social, economic, demographic changes taking place in Asia. More specifically, this course examines critically major social policy challenges confronting rapid social and political economy changes in Greater China region and East and Southeast Asia. Particular attention will be given to examining how governments, markets and civil societies in the region respond to such challenges in adopting social policy policies appropriate for managing rapid changes. Students will be engaged in case analysis, critically reflecting upon how social and political economy changes in selected Asian societies would have affected policy changes. Adopting a comparative approach in analysing policy formation and implementation, together with the collaborative learning activities, this course will enable students to understand the most recent developments related to poverty alleviation, education, health, social security, and housing policies, as well as urban and cultural changes in Asia.

Globalisation, Policy and Society (3 credits)

This course focuses on several key topics in education and social policy in East Asia and the rest of the world, with particular reference to analyse how education and social policy have been affected by the growing trends of globalisation. The course takes an explicitly comparative approach with each of the issues examined through case studies of societies located in East Asia like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, Japan, Korea and Singapore, critically examining how the globalising economy and the growing tide of neo-liberalism have affected social change and policy reform. Largely student-centered, the course is structured around student-guided discussions of assigned readings, with the goal of encouraging the drawing of conclusions about important policy issues from the comparison of different cases. Through preparation for discussions, organising group presentations and completing written assignments, students will develop independent inquiry skills to explore the interrelationships between policy and social phenomena.

NGOs, Civil Society and the State (3 credits)

The course equips students with leading theories and approaches for studying the interrelationship between non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society and the state. It examines the rise of NGOs in international, national and local governance and advocacy. Specific topics include the definition and classification of NGOs and civil society, the roles played by NGOs in development, the major approaches to studying NGOs, and the challenges and limitations facing NGOs. It concludes with a preliminary examination of the latest development of civil society and NGOs in the Greater China Region.

Chinese Politics, Policy and Governance (3 credits)

This course provides a comprehensive overview of China's political development, with an emphasis on China’s role in various aspects of global governance. It offers an in-depth analysis of how Chinses governance affects public action in practice by examining different policy areas, such as health reform, public finance, higher education, environmental protection, technology innovation, and other critical issues. This course also highlights China’s significant economic and political activities through policies, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, and the BRICS block (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). The basic objective of this course is to provide students with an opportunity to learn about and critically reflect on China’s role in global and regional governance frameworks. From that foundation, we will move on to current governing challenges in China as well as the future shape of China's socio-political change.