SOS10.4.3 Domestication of Global Trends 5 ETC

Course description

Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level – where policies are ultimately made and implemented – when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? More detailed research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity.

Distancing itself from approaches that conceive narrowly of policy transfer as a ‘one-way street’ from powerful nations to weaker ones, this course argues instead for an understanding of national decision-making processes that emphasize cross-national comparisons and domestic field battles around the introduction of worldwide models.

The case studies presented and discussed in this course show how national policies appear to be synchronized globally yet are developed with distinctly ‘national’ flavors. Presenting new theoretical ideas and empirical cases, this course is aimed at scholars of political science, international relations, comparative public policy and sociology.

Time & space:Tue 14.1-25.2.2014 at 14-16 Room: Pinni B 3032.

The accomplishment of the course requires the following:

• active involvement in each session
• a short introduction prepared  in twos based on the selected course material
• acquaintance with the course material
• an essay based on the course material or other relevant reading

Essay return 11.3.2014.

Coordinators: Marjaana Rautalin marjaana.rautalin@uta.fi and Jukka Syväterä jukka.syvatera@uta.fi

Other teachers: Ali Qadir ali.qadir@uta.fi

Reception hours of the teachers: Tuesday at 10-11 starting on 14.1.2014; Marjaana in Pinni B 3024 and Jukka in Pinni B 3002.