Research Topics in Public Management & Geopolitics (2225.YR.008353.1)

General information

Type:	OPT	Curs:	1	Period:	S semester
ECTS Credits:	3 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

This elective, offered by Esade-Gov and Esade-Geo, is designed to expose you to cutting-edge theoretical and empirical issues, and methodological perspectives on public management and international organizations. It is designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to enhance their understanding of comparative public management & global governance at a graduate level. It is appropriate for those who wish to embark upon an academic career, in the first instance through pursuing doctoral research, but also for those looking to embark on careers in think tanks, politics, public administration, international relations, teaching, and the charity sector. The course content will cover the main research areas in performance, modes of governance and board of directors, innovation, networks and partnerships, leadership and power, and nonmarket strategy in the public management and international organizations field.

Number of sessions: we will have 7 sessions of 3 hours each.

A critical reading of the materials assigned for each class should, by the end of the course, make you familiar with the accepted research methods in public management and international organizations research.

Each student is expected to present an academic review of a recently published paper in a top journal in public management or international relations, in the last session (relevance, research questions, methodology, references) taking into account the learnings from the course.

The purpose of this course is to provide MRes level coverage of the major research carried out in public management and international governmental organizations. Specifically, the goals of the course are to:
1) Illustrate how the studies on public management and international organizations have evolved across different disciplines and the challenges they pose to mainstream research in organization and strategy.
2) Equip students with an understanding of the particular contributions offered by such diverse approaches as: Organization Theory, International Relations Theory, Sociological Institutionalist Approach, and Network Theory.
3) Give you a strong foundation for critical thinking, and enable you conceptualize, develop, and operationalize any research idea you may have in the area.

The course will give you a brief introduction to public management and international governmental organizations field, its foundations and intellectual heritage. We will focus on the main questions that define the field today and attempt to critically examine how researchers are approaching these questions. We will also focus on questions about the appropriate research designs, methodologies and difficulties in the process of crafting high-quality research papers and getting them published in top tier journals.

1. Administrative Law, Public Administration and Governance - Performing organizational functions within government - New public management and its critics - Coproduction and the new public governance

2. Organization theories and public management - Public Corporate Governance - State Own Enterprises

3. Organization theories and international organizations - Global Governance - The Demand for International Regimes - Boards of directors in international organizations

4. Network theories and partnering approach - Modes of governance - Public-private partnerships and strategic alliances

5. Innovation in governments - Structures and innovation - Social networks and innovation - Leadership and innovation

6. Network theories and international organizations - The Power Dynamics of Mandated Network Administrative Organizations - Agents as Brokers: Leadership in Multilateral Organizations

7. Nonmarket strategy and international institutions - NGO Influence in International Organizations: Information, Access, and Exchange. - Is a global nonmarket strategy possible?

We will focus on the main questions that define the field today and attempt to critically examine how researchers are approaching these questions. For each topic, we will distribute a number of articles from early "classics? to recent research. Our objectives for each class session will be to determine the main ideas and research questions driving work in a particular topic area, identify what we have learned to date and where the gaps are in our knowledge of that area, and develop ideas for new research in that area.

This means that you have to actively read prior research, trying to understand the authors' ideas and developing the habit of constructive criticism of the research. We will also devote time in class to discuss learnings and problems that emerge as you conduct or review a research project.