Governance and the State

POLI70891 Governance and the State 15 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 7 David Richards Unit coordinator Politics 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Masters/Integrated Masters P4 ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 7.5 Indicative Course ContentThis is an indication of what we will cover in each session, although it may be subject to change.Part 1: Debating Governance: The Conceptual Terrain<ul><li>Week 1: State Capacity, Power and the Modern State.  In this introductory week we will explore the rationale of the course and its structure.  We will focus on the well-established notions of the modern state in the context of state capacity. The main questions addressed by this session are to what extent has the traditional conceptual and empirical approaches to studying the state changed overtime, how this has impacted on state capacity and whether a new post-modern epoch for the state has emerged.</li></ul> <ul><li>Week 2: Governance in Late Modernity: Hierarchy, Networks, Markets And Persuasion.  If government is traditionally defined as the formal institutions of the state that are granted a monopoly over the legitimate use of coercive power, then what is governance?  From discussions of ‘global governance’, ‘multi-level governance’, or ‘good governance’, the concept of governance is ubiquitous in academic and popular discourse. The aim of our discussions is to move towards some conceptual clarification, if not agreement, on what is governance, and what it is not.  </li></ul> <ul><li>Week 3: Approaches to Networked Governance.   A dominant feature of governance is that networks have come to dominate public policy.   In this seminar, we explore the various conceptual and empirical approaches to understanding the nature of networked governance.    In so doing, we seek to understand the complex nature of state, network and market approaches towards governance.  </li></ul>Part 2: Developments and Controversies in Contemporary Governance<ul><li>Week 4: Multi-Level Governance: A Case-Study of the European Union.  One of the dominant approaches with the literature on governance is that of multi-level governance (MLG). This seminar seeks to both explore and critique MLG, using the European Union as a case-study to frame both the theoretical and empirical challenges it raises. </li></ul> <ul><li>Week 5: Tools of Governance 1: Regulation, Audit and.  Understanding the impact of state change is a complex task generating a diverse body of literature.  In this seminar, we examine a contrasting narrative – that of the rise of the ‘regulatory state’ - to the one associated with fragmentation and the loss of central capacity.</li></ul> <ul><li>Week 6:  Tools of Governance 2: Nudging and the Behavioural Revolution. This seminar explores the ways in which in an era of governance, states have sought to modify people’s behaviour through ‘softer’ tools of  persuasion, via education and advertising campaigns and more subtle ‘nudges’, applying the insights of behavioural science and social psychology.</li></ul> <ul><li>Week 7: Governance as Politicisation, De-Politicisation and Re-Politicisation. Depoliticisation can be portrayed asattempts by elected bodies to shift responsibility for public policy away from the state to unelected authorities, thus creating an image of those policies as 'non-political'. In this seminar we explore both conceptual and empirical dimensions to what is currently a highly  topical issue.  </li><li>Week 8: Governance, Delivery and Implementation. One of the core challenges presented by governance is that of delivery and implementation. In a policy-making arena that is shifting from hierarchy [emphasising state command] to heterarchy [emphasising state control] and embraces a variety of state, network and market approaches that have led to greater complexity, fragmentation and siloisation, the issue of effective implementation is a pressing one. This seminar will consider these issues from different conceptual and empirical angles adopting both a top-down and bottom-up perspectives.</li></ul> <ul><li>Week 9: Pathologies of Governance: Challenges to Democracy, Legitimacy, Accountability and Transparency. As increased cooperation at the regional and international levels grows and public, private and voluntary sectors become increasingly blurred [a process of imbrication], concerns have grown over a 'democratic deficit', 'legitimacy gap' and 'blurred accountability lines' in a complex governance arena.</li></ul><div><ul><li>Week 10: Governance and the State in Late Modernity: Draws together the core governance themes explored throughout the module to consider the future development of the state in late modernity.</li></ul></div> The nature of the modern state has undergone significant transformations in recent decades.  To properly understand state power and capacity in the twenty-first century, one has to move been beyond the traditional study of state institutions alone. It requires situating central state capacity within a much wider field of multi-level governance in which power is understood as both fluid and operating across a range of loci including international organisations, regional organizations, central, regional and local governments; and the network of actors that tie them altogether.   The traditional focus on government has, in this more complex setting, been replaced by the need to widen the analytical aperture to centre on the study of ‘governance’ in its various forms.The key challenge for those studying this field is therefore to develop multi-level theories and approaches that make sense of these new arrangements and practices of governing. The module begins by exploring the conceptual terrain within the literature on governance. The module then goes on to look at a number of developments and controversies in contemporary governance from both applied and analytical perspectives including: globalization and the state; regulation; surveillance; de-politicisation; the democratic and legitimacy challenges associated to different forms of governance, including new forms of political participation. On completion of this unit successful students will be able to:<ul> <li>Understand the theoretical and conceptual terrain and approaches to governance</li> <li>explain and evaluate recent challenges and controversies in contemporary governance;</li> <li>critically evaluate policy tools and strategies to tackle those challenges;</li> <li>work independently, identifying appropriate sources and further readings;</li> <li>develop arguments that synthesise theoretical and empirical material;</li> <li>constructively engage in discussion with others and work collaboratively in small groups;</li> <li>Précis and present key arguments and supporting evidence in both written and oral communication.</li></ul> Weekly seminars (2 hours) 0 Other 15% 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 85% One essay of 2750 words (85%), presentation (15%) Y Bell, S. and Hindmoor, A. (2009) Rethinking Governance, Cambridge University Press  Cairney, P. (2020) Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues Palgrave: Macmillan Smith, M.J. (2009) Power and the State Palgrave, Macmillan  Pierre, J. and Peters, G. (2020) Governance Politics and the State,2nd ed. Bloomsbury Chhotray, V. and Stoker, G. (2009) Governance Theory and Practice, Palgrave Gadinger, F. and Scholte, J.A. (eds.) (2023) Polycentrism: How Governing Works Today. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hay, C, Lister, M. and Marsh, D. (2022) The State: Theories and Issues [2nd Edn] London: Bloomsbury Hooghe, L & Marks, (2001) Multi-Level Governance and European Integration,  Rowman  Kooiman, J. (2003) Governing as Governance, Sage  Glasberg, D. S., Willis, A. S., & Shannon, D. (2017). The State of State Theory: State Projects, Repression, and Multi-Sites of Power, Lexington Books Levi-Faur, D. (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Governance, Oxford University Press Lowndes, V. and M. Roberts (2013) Why Institutions Matter, Palgrave Macmillan 6, P., Goodwin, N. Peck, E. & Freeman, T. (2006), Managing Networks of Twenty-first Century Organisations, Palgrave Rhodes, R., (1997) Understanding Governance, Open University Press Richards, D. and Smith, M.J. (2002), Governance and Public Policy in the UK, Oxford University Press Seminars 20 0 130