Course summary

The MSc Comparative Public Policy provides intensive analytical training in the systematic comparison of social and public policies from an international perspective. How do countries and regions across the globe navigate the most pressing public policy challenges? Thinking about public policy in comparative terms is second nature to any policy professional or scholar in Scotland. We constantly have to assess the similarities and differences between Scottish public policies and those implemented elsewhere in the UK. But furthermore, we are embedded in a network of international policy institutions in Europe and globally that mean comparison is a necessity and also an opportunity to learn from good examples elsewhere. Embedded in an environment that is naturally conducive to public policy comparisons, we will ask questions about how countries and regions across the globe navigate similar challenges, often deploying different solutions to common problems. Policy-makers often refer to what works or doesn’t work elsewhere to persuade the public about the strengths and weaknesses of particular policy options and comparing is at the heart of some of the most hotly-debated policy problems:

• Why do students pay for a university degree in some countries but not others?

• Why are unemployment benefits much more generous in some countries than others?

• Why did national responses to the 2008 financial crisis vary widely and so did the responses to Covid-19?

• Think critically, cleverly and creatively about comparative public policy. At the heart of comparative public policy is understanding the economic, political and social factors that lead countries across the world to develop responses to public policy issues.

• Identify the factors that shape similarities and differences in such responses across time and space. We want this to be an enriching exercise for you from both an analytical and a practical standpoint.

• Give you the theoretical tools to understand why particular sets of policies are implemented in particular countries. Practically, we want to give you the instruments to rigorously assess which ones ‘work’ best and what some countries or regions can – or, equally importantly, cannot – learn from others.

• Leave Edinburgh ready to work in the world of policy and to devise thorough analyses for stakeholders in the public and private sector leveraging the comparative perspective as a unique strength to tackle policy problems in today’s highly integrated societies.