Duration
30h Th, 15h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in political sciences : general (120 ECTS) (Odd years, organized in 2023-2024) | 5 crédits | |||
| Master in political sciences : general (60 ECTS) (Odd years, organized in 2023-2024) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
At the confluence of a series of social, political and scientific crises (loss of legitimacy of political institutions, health or environmental scandals), the governance of public action is undergoing a "participatory turn": representative democracy is gradually being bolstered by mechanisms that encourage the inclusion of citizens, experts or stakeholders in decision-making processes. In Belgium, a number of participatory mechanisms are being institutionalised at various levels of government.
As future public servants, students of public administration will very probably be faced with drawing up specifications, implementing or evaluating ex ante or ex post participatory schemes, whether they are one-offs or set up on a permanent basis. Theoretically deployed at federal, regional and municipal level, and empirically implemented at municipal level in close partnership with a volunteer municipality, this course aims to train students to imagine, develop, implement and evaluate a participatory mechanism. The latter will vary according to the instruments and themes suggested by the partner municipality.
As each stage of the participatory project is implemented, the students will experience in real-life situations what it means to participate, analyse the reports from the local authority and examine the difficulties and limitations inherent in the practical implementation of participatory exercises (organisation, recruitment, facilitation, inclusion/exclusion of certain groups). This course will also provide students with an opportunity to understand the potential tensions between the expectations of a sponsor and those of the participants and organisers, and to examine the various ways in which the results obtained can be used (by a steering committee, a sponsor and the participants).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Identify, through role-playing, the various legal tools available to citizens to participate: joining a CCMTA? Sign a petition or collect signatures? Respond to a public enquiry? Take part in a preliminary information meeting? etc. These are just some of the legal frameworks that students will learn to dissect.
Understand the regulatory, budgetary and political constraints with which the administration juggles in a real-life situation: apply these rules in a specific context and on a specific territory (partner municipality).
Organising, drawing up and testing a project at a particular political level in accordance with a precise timetable: using retroplanning to organise the project, students will be able to see how a project unfolds, the brainstorming sessions and the methodological and practical choices made in a practical setting, how it is put into practice and the limits encountered in the field.
Ability to take individual or collective initiatives, suggest ideas or anticipate requests from the project manager. Between sessions, students prepare themselves in a professional manner to anticipate constraints and difficulties and propose concrete solutions to meet the challenges of the project.
Ability to evaluate constructively and critically a system implemented and to present (orally and in writing) the results in accordance with the scientific standards. Students learn to present their approaches and results in a professional manner. They learn how to enhance the value of their results according to the target audience.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Public policy evaluation
Public policy analysis
Qualitative methodology in political science (theory)
Methods and analysis of public policy (practice
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Project-based teaching (possibility of working in sub-groups depending on the number of enrolments) with a weekly supervision seminar.
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Preparation for the development, organisation and implementation of a participatory system: the teacher acts as a project support committee, suggesting scientific articles on ecampus each week that could help refine the students' analysis and also assessing the progress of their reflections. Between sessions, the students are in close contact with the project leader (V. Meens) and, if necessary, with the administrative bodies in charge of the participatory project.
A dossier of theoretical and critical readings on public participation and presenting concrete examples of participatory mechanisms will be produced and put online on ecampus throughout the term. Similarly, documentation on the partner local authority and regulations will be made available to students as and when required and as the project develops.
Each week, the students work on concrete situations to be resolved; they assess the difficulties involved in (getting) people to participate, taking into account both the administration's point of view and the citizen's point of view.
- Experimentation with a participatory system in a real-life situation.
- Analysis and critical feedback on the experiment: the students evaluate the experimented system and provide critical feedback, in particular using criteria from the scientific literature.
- Valuing the results according to the audience: the students learn to report on the results obtained according to the methods suggested or imposed by the project manager, the partner local authority or the teaching staff.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
Face to face
Attendance is compulsory. Any absence must be justified by a medical certificate to be sent within 48 hours.
Recommended or required readings
Written work / report
Continuous assessment
Out-of-session test(s)
Additional information:
Active participation in class sessions, initiative-taking and student proposals are assessed throughout the year (60% of the final score).
The remainder of the assessment is based on the quality (form and content) of the written and oral presentation of the results to the Project Manager Team and the partner municipality (40% of the final score).
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
During weeks 9/11 and 16/11 - the course sessions may be adapted to the organisational schedule of the participatory events.
Contacts
Professor: Céline Parotte
PhD student, member of the Project Management team: Valentine Meens
v.meens@uliege.be