Academic Year 2020/2021

Course description to come…

The purpose of this seminar-based course is to critically examine the political-economic underpinnings of the development and implementation of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy.  It introduces Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy through an examination of STI policy ideas, institutions, instruments and interests.

The course is divided into three parts. The first section examines various conceptual approaches for looking at STI policy ideas, instruments, and institutions set in an historical and political-economic context. The emphasis is on national and to a lesser extent sub-national policy and governance systems of STI; and how key interests shape them, including the state, business, academia, and scientists as a political force. The second part will pay particular attention to the Canadian STI policy system. We will also explore the issues and instruments related to supporting science and technology, industrial research and innovation. The third part shifts to case studies and topics particularly salient in emerging economies and other industrialized nations, as well as Canada. These may include the STI policy aspects of health; energy and environment; agriculture, food and biotechnology; and disruptive technology “game-changers” (such as AI/robotics, blockchain, etc.).

The Science, Politics and Economics of Global Climate Change

In the face of political developments, the scientific evidence continues to strengthen, and scientists are issuing increasingly frequent and urgent warnings on the need to act swiftly. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (2014), which is based on a summation of all the peer reviewed climate change (CC) science publications of the previous six years, is the most definitive yet on the anthropocentric causes of CC. The October 2018 IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees C is even stronger in clarifying the difficulty of restricting warming to below 2 degrees in the 21^st Century. Simply put, few other policy issues are likely to impact as profoundly the social and economic fabric of Canada and the rest of the world in the 21^st Century. Indeed, both scientific and national security organizations are now drawing the links between CC, ecological catastrophes, social and economic discord, and political violence in various parts of the developing world. Canadians should not assume this is a developing world problem, as warming is happening twice as fast in Canada as elsewhere, particularly in the Arctic … where the melting permafrost represents a carbon time bomb. Record temperatures and tundra and forest fires in Siberia in 2019 and 2020 foreshadow a similar fate in the Canadian Arctic.

Acknowledging the warnings and agreeing on the need for massive and truly radical greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions (i.e. 50% to 80% by mid-century) countries came together at COP 21in Paris in December 2015 to put in place an international agreement to achieve coordinated reductions going forward. The UNFCCC Paris Agreement, which was ratified at COP 22 in 2016, was a major accomplishment for the international community. This was the first time both developed and developing countries took on formal GHG reduction commitments. In 2015, an NDP election victory in Alberta and a federal Liberal election victory changed the domestic dynamic in favour of attempting to craft a serious CC agenda. Had Hilary Clinton been able to translate her popular support into Electoral College votes, this course would be an implementation study of international, continental and national actors pulling together to mitigate GHG emissions and ramp up the transition to a low carbon economy. But electoral systems matter, and Donald Trump managed to translate a popular vote loss of around 3 million votes into a presidential victory because the U.S. Electoral College system is biased in favour of small rural states. The choices Trump made in appointing CC sceptics and fossil fuel defenders to prominent cabinet and other posts and the decisions made by his administration, including withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement, have had serious ramifications for the international, continental and Canadian policy implementation efforts. An NDP victory in B.C. and Conservative victories in Manitoba, Ontario and Alberta have resulted in changes in provincial governments which have impacted the implementation of the 2016 Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change (PCF).

The first 8 weeks of the course are an unavoidable “deep dive’ into the ‘substance’ of the science, economics and politics of global CC. There is a mix of international and Canadian literature culminating in the visit to class by two of Canada’s leading experts; one of whom is a graduate of the class and now the ADM of ECCC tasked with leading the implementation of the PCF. Students will become literate in: CC science; the idiom of international convention making and design; the politics and challenge of negotiations (domestic, continental and international);  the role of regulation, suasion, and economic policy instruments in emission reductions; and energy system transitions in a period of adaptation. Indeed, the transition to a low-carbon economy and resistance by regime incumbents animates the first 8 weeks. The insights from the literature will invariably penetrate the ‘creative’ part of the class in which students undertake a two-stage writing process involving an oral presentation of the “first draft” of the research essay before subsequently writing and editing the final product. This is a serious commitment of class time to the research enterprise as students do not usually get the opportunity to formally “dry run” ideas they are developing in their essays to elicit feedback from their peers. This class provides a ‘privileged’ writing experience and course essays are routinely published in the double-blind, peer-reviewed student journal ISEMA after rigourous review. While the course readings are already extensive, this is very much a ‘live’ policy issue. Hence, every effort will be made to ensure that students are exposed to new literature which will emerge during the term.

This course introduces the history of and current issues in Indigenous-Crown relations in Canada. A long renegotiation of relations between Indigenous peoples and Canadian public institutions began nearly four decades ago. The renegotiation has transformed public policy in federal, provincial and territorial governments, and it has resulted in a raft of new institutions in all parts of Canada. The course provides an introduction to this broad transformation, with an emphasis on the current situation.Many areas of Canadian public policy are of interest to Indigenous peoples, concerning governance, land, resources, social policy, environment, education, child welfare, international relations, economic development, culture, language, and others. In this course you will have the opportunity to build the basis for understanding differing perspectives on some of these matters in various regions of the country. Together, we will examine several possible paths for the future, in topic areas of interest to members of the class. The subject matter for this course is both deep and wide: there is much knowledge to acquire and understanding to develop, before one can speak with confidence. The course outline is designed to provide a tour d’horizon, and to equip you for further research and thinking on these themes.

This course covers selected topics in health policy and will focus on Canada’s health and healthcare systems key issues. Topics include: the organization and financing of health care delivery, providers’ payment, private financing in health care, primary care and health disparities. New sections will cover topics related to the COVID-19 crisis, such as public health systems and the links between health and the economy. International comparisons will be made over the course.

Benefit-Cost Analysis

This course provides an introduction to the ideas and methods of benefit-cost analysis. Benefit-cost analysis is an important way of thinking about and making decisions concerning the allocation of government resources among alternative uses. It makes use of ideas from welfare economics, actuarial science, decision analysis and psychology. Applications will include aspects of policy towards global warming and the covid-19 pandemic as well as other issues. Students will have the opportunity to design their own benefit-cost study as part of the course requirements. My intention is that by the end of the course, students will have acquired a set of tools enabling them to use benefit-cost reasoning in their work.

Prerequisite: Microeconomics 5127 or the equivalent. Mathematics: High School algebra and geometry.

Rapid political, economic, technological and social changes, especially crises, are seen as the main reasons why politicians, public service managers and policy makers are increasingly required to think strategically in an effort to navigate change, identify priorities and establish an integrated approach to public governance. The need to act in partnerships and via networks (steer not row), and produce measurable results and outcomes, places greater emphasis upon setting and agreeing upon strategic aims. In addition, the need to include stakeholders in responsive and participative decision-making is also challenging what may be seen to be `traditional’ approaches to ‘top down’ planning in the public services, and raises key issues about the roles of politicians and managers in this process.  As public services increasingly look to leadership which is informed by concepts of strategic management the course looks at a range of models for strategy formation and implementation and also explores critical perspectives on the power relations, discourse and risk which underpin strategic change.

In addition to examining strategies for public, private and third sector organizations the course also explores strategic change in a wide range of societal, national, historic, and local contexts through the strategic slots which allow students to apply the concepts learned in the course to a broad and fascinating range of case studies and examines the relationship between strategic planning and emergency preparedness.  In light of the current pandemic this will include an analysis of the emergency response both in Canada and internationally and will explore the strategic implications for work, travel, urban planning, governments and globalization.

Program & Project Management

Program/project managers have recently experienced increased scrutiny regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of their programs and projects. This has happened at a time when funders are tightening their budgets and are increasingly demanding evidence of actual impact. This trend represents a significant shift from the previous era when program/project managers had more freedom in the implementation process and spent more time on the program/project than on communications and approvals. It has also left many managers needing to learn on the job, refer to ‘success’ stories for tips and ideas, and using support provided by program/project management companies that have developed guidelines for managing programs/projects based on or inspired by methodologies from the private sector.

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the literature on the critical issues and challenges that program/project managers face in designing, planning and implementing programs/projects. Through this course, students will be exposed to the most popular and commonly used program/project management tools in the public and non-profit sectors. This includes the program/project cycle, results-based management instruments, and the main software tools that are often used to assist program/project managers (Gannt Charts and Work Breakdown Structures). In doing so, the course will provide students with a practical and theoretical understanding of program/project management.

Course description to come…

Course description to come…

Regulation

This course examines the economic, political, social, and organizational theories of regulation, a key policy instrument of government. Select processes and consequences of regulatory practice in certain public policy fields and jurisdictions will be examined.

“The nature and historical development of social programs in capitalist countries, with particular focus on Canada. The course will concentrate on developing a critical understanding of the social forces shaping these programs.”

Social Policy is not an academic discipline. It is not a branch of sociology, social work or political science. It is neither the study of dismal social problems. Social Policy is a subject area: the study of human well-being and the ways in which a society attempts to achieve this well-being. Social Policy borrows on many social science disciplines including sociology, social work, psychology, economics, political science, management, history, philosophy and law.

The term “social policy” can be used to designate the policies which governments use for welfare and social protection. Nevertheless, as an academic topic, social policy has a huge scope since it relates to the ways in which well-being is promoted and provided in a society. It extends far beyond the actions of government, and includes social, cultural and economic conditions and interactions shaping the development of welfare.

Social Policy normally includes policies about education, health, social security and housing, all understood in their broadest meaning. It can include as well policies to provide full-employment, to protect the environment, to redress social deviants, to provide recreational activities or personal services.

Social policy can be achieved not only through government, but also through family, non-profit organizations, local communities and churches or through the market, for example with mandatory private insurance coverage. Social policy also represents big bucks: in Canada and the UK, social policy represents around two-thirds of public spending (See Table on next page), and a quarter of gross domestic product. In the United States, Americans spend more on healthcare than on durable goods. It is not surprising that debates about the organization of social policy are often making the headlines.

Who gets what? Who pays? What is the goal? Who get paid? Under which principles? Who is in control? This course aims at answering these critical questions in a critical way. This course aims at providing a basic understanding of the debates about social policy by focusing on the context of the neo-liberal restructuring since the 1980s. Social policy shifted from a dominant paradigm promoting universal social rights through the welfare state to a new dominant paradigm criticizing the waste of public funds and promoting individual responsibility.
This course is not a beginner’s course on social policy and will not simply discuss the workings of social programs in a catalogue form. Instead, the course will focus on some specific issues in order to analyze in greater depth the socio-political and economic debates surrounding the issues.

Course description to come…

This course is designed to give students a critical understanding of the key importance of cities and the challenges facing urban governments including climate change, urban sprawl, infrastructure renewal, immigration and social inclusion. It also explores the opportunities for cities to be innovative and at forefront of responding to complex policy challenges by committing to sustainable development, meaningful citizen engagement and liveable cities that attract people and nurture economic development. The aims of the course are to: explore some of the major theoretical approaches to the role and importance of local government; critically assess the environment in which municipal governments currently operate; provide an understanding of the main structures and processes of urban ‘governance’ in a federal context; and examine how urban governments are addressing the major transformations they have faced in recent years. The focus is primarily on urban governments in the Canadian context, although most of the issues have application to smaller municipalities and to cities in other developed and developing countries. Students will be encouraged to draw upon and make use of experience and examples from a wide range of cities and jurisdictions through the “city focus” presentations in the final weeks of the course.

Although not a primary focus of this course, the Covid 19 pandemic has and is changing traditional assumptions that affect key urban issues such as the way we work, travel, socialize and choose live. This will have profound implications for urban planning, the demand for public transportation and the type and location of housing within the city including seniors and residential homes.  The pandemic has confirmed many of the economic, fiscal, constitutional and political constraints that have undermined the capacity of Canadian municipalities to address policy challenges in major cities.  This could create a brief and fascinating window to rethink the role and governance of Canada’s major cities.

Energy Efficiency Policy

This policy course will provide students with an understanding of the policy issues surrounding energy efficiency in Canada. The course will familiarize students with the demand side of energy systems, policy and program approaches to achieving energy efficiency objectives, and the broader policy and regulatory frameworks underpinning energy efficiency across Canadian jurisdictions. The course will include both theoretical and practical components, including lectures, real-world case studies, and guest presentations from energy efficiency policy professionals.

Poverty and Inequality

Students will gain an in-depth understanding of poverty and inequality in selected countries. We will examine how poverty and inequality are defined and measured, consider the underlying causes and consequences of poverty/inequality and then consider how our views of these causes shape public policy to address these issues in selected countries.