210115 SE M7 a: VertiefungsSEStaatstätigkeit, Policy- und Governanceanalysen (2016W)

A. Course content
This course approaches health policies and politics as expressions of governance. We do so by taking as case studies four areas of policy controversies.
We will draw on the various concepts, theoretical models and methodological consequences of the disciplines of policy sciences, sociology, and the history of medicine and their relevance in analyzing health policy systems and the role of medical technologies therein. Adopting an innovative approach, the course draws on the concept of governance and the history of medicine with a special focus on four areas of major political and medical relevance: (i) radiation, (ii) vaccination, (iii) organ donation, and (iv) reproductive technologies. Across these themes, we will adopt a historical approach and focus on the multi-leveled nature of regulatory governance practices: Health care policy and regulation are not produced by a unitary actor with adequate control over all required action resources. Rather, governance can be understood as the complex, interactive, and informal modes of coordination in which issues become objects of policy, and, in turn, how policy translates into practices (Fischer 2003; Hajer and Wagenaar 2003).
To do justice to this complex nature of governance, this course pays particular attention to global and international actors, including intergovernmental actors such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Committee on Disease Control (ECDC), as well as non-governmental civic networks, such as those addressing gender inequality, and the role of patient movements.
The objectives of the course are to analyze:
1. the context of health policies and politics across different political and historical contexts;
2. the actors involved in health policy processes. We will pay special attention to the role of international organizations such as WHO and the International Atomic Energy Agency in shaping and standardizing national health policies in the field of nuclear medicine and vaccination infrastructures.
3. the methodological and analytical aspects of situated, but comparative policy analysis;
4. important examples of technologies and their regulation in order to understand the historicity and contingency of the concept of health.

B. Course aims
By the end of the course students should be equipped with the conceptual and analytical tools required to address health policy in a comparative analytical perspective. In addition, students will be able to address and discuss key areas of cutting-edge research of medical and political relevance, including radiation, organ donation, vaccination, and reproductive technologies.

C. Teaching methods & learning outcomes
The course will feature a combination of brief introductory lectures and discussions. The instructors will introduce topics and guide discussions. Students are expected to actively participate in the discussion. Literature from political science, medical sociology, and ethics will be incorporated into discussions and the assignment. No special familiarity with the field of health care is required, but a keen interest is assumed. The brief introductory lectures address topics and objectives outlined below, often drawing on literature beyond the mandatory reading list. The lectures will take on a more or less interactive format. Students are encouraged to bring in examples and questions of their own to shape the discussion. In addition, students are encouraged to follow current affairs concerning health politics and policy. Finally, the course closes with a student conference where students receive feedback on their paper proposals from other course participants as well as the instructors.