Public Administration: Multi-Level Governance

About this minor

In this minor you will get an insight in Dutch as well as international public administration. You will study local, national and international levels of government such as the European Union, and (semi-) public and private organizations that carry out a variety of public tasks.

What will you learn?

The minor addresses a broad range of topics. We discuss which organisations the public sector actually consists of and what the relationships are between organisations and levels. Contemporary problems and developments are discussed, such as decentralisation to municipalities, ‘good’ governance, privatisation of public tasks, Europeanisation, and the role of international organisations in forging multi-lateral agreements. Ethical argumentation and normative questions are also discussed. Moreover, the minor enables you to assess and conduct proper social scientific research to critically investigate public administration and to offer solutions to current and future challenges of governance.

Elective courses (15 ECTS)

Students from Leiden University are supposed to follow the entire minor programme of 30 ECTS. We have a shorter minor programme for students from outside Leiden University. Parts of the minor can be followed as a programme of three elective courses. These courses, once passed, will be shown as electives on your diploma but do make up a coherent programme of 15 ECTS of Public Administration. It concerns the following courses:

Introduction to Public Administration (level 200), block 1, semester 1
European Union Politics and Policy (level 200), block 1, semester 1
Public Management and Organisations (level 300), block 2, semester 1

Courses
Course	EC
Introduction to Public Administration	5
International Regulation	5
European Union Politics and Policy	5
International Administration	5
Public Management and Organisations (Minor PA)	5
Public Values & Ethics	5
Research in Public Administration	5

Structure of the minor

This minor is taught in two consecutive blocks of 8 weeks each.

In block one, students will become acquainted with some basic building blocks of the discipline, with an introductory course on Public Administration, a course on 'European Unions and Politics' and on 'Multi-level regulatory governance'.

In block two, students will become acquainted with two more core courses of 'Public Management and Organizations' and 'International Administration'. They will also be able to choose between two sub-topics of the discipline. Here, the research component can be taken with an online course mixed with face-to-face elements 'Research in Public Administration'. This course is especially useful (and mandatory!) for students who wish to continue in a Master’s program in Public Administration but do not have a social science background (see also next tab Important Information). Alternatively, students can choose to follow the course 'Public Values and Ethics' about normative and ethical questions of good governance. All courses are worth 5 ECTS.