Public Administration (PADM) Courses
Modern Challenges to Governance
Modern challenges to states, citizens, and policy-making, explored with the help of contemporary and historical thinkers. Topics may include: inequality; national security and intelligence gathering; identity; globalization and global finance; trade agreements and property rights; climate change and environmental challenges.
Policy Analysis: The Practical Art of Change
Contemporary techniques of policy analysis. Topics may include: risk assessment, policy design, options analysis, and scenario-writing.
Public Management: Principles and Approaches
Principles and processes of public-sector management as they function through cabinet-parliamentary government, federalism, the public service and the judiciary. Institutional reforms and changes in the philosophy of public sector management.
Public Management in Practice
Contemporary public management practices. Topics may include: financial management, leadership, performance management, organizational design, human resource management, implementation.
Law and Ethics
The legal and normative environment of Canadian public administration, law, institutions and processes. The relationship between ethics, accountability and good governance. Canadian legal history, adjudicative procedures, delegation of powers to public authorities, procedural justice in decision making.
Qualitative Methods for Public Policy
Qualitative methods and dimensions of policy research. Topics may include the formulation of research problems, research design and techniques for collecting and managing evidence, and the role of qualitative research in the analysis of public policies and programs.
Quantitative Methods for Public Policy
Descriptive statistics, probability theory and sampling distributions, hypothesis testing of quantitative and qualitative population parameters, and regression analysis.
Microeconomics for Policy Analysis
Key concepts in microeconomic theory and their application to public policy. Topics may include incentives, rational choice theory, market structure, welfare economics, and strategic behaviour.
Prerequisite(s): ECON 1001 or equivalent.
Macroeconomics for Policy Analysis
Theoretical foundations and current policy issues that relate to the level and growth of expenditure and production are analyzed in the Canadian and international context.
Prerequisite(s): ECON 1002 or equivalent.
Capstone Course
An integrative workshop-based course in which teams of students develop and present strategies to address a policy problem.
Intergovernmental Relations
Major cost-sharing and fiscal transfer agreements. The intergovernmental mechanisms for policy and administrative coordination in selected policy fields.
Civil Society and Public Policy
The influence of various interests, social movements, voluntary organizations and citizens in the policy process in a Canadian and comparative context.
Gender and Public Policy
The impact of public policy on gender relations and how gender relations shape policy. Topics covered may include gender inequalities in earnings and employment, macroeconomic policy, gender and development, and gender-based analysis.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4213, for which additional credit is precluded.
Budgetary Policy in the Public Sector
Selected aspects of the expenditure and revenue budget and budgetary process at all levels of government. Critical review of actual budgets and budgetary processes.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4214, for which additional credit is precluded.
Benefit-Cost Analysis
Benefit-cost analysis and its application to public-sector investment, pricing policy, discount rates, marginal cost and shadow pricing, and the handling of risk and uncertainty.
Economic Models of Politics and Public Policy
Microfoundations of collective action, majority rule, political institutions and bureaucracy. Applications to various issues in Canadian and international public policy.
Applied Microeconomic Policy Analysis
Microeconomic theory applied to public policy problems and issues.
Analysis of Socio-economic Data
Correlation and regression analyses to test hypotheses about the relationships between socio-economic variables.
Advanced Statistical Policy Analysis
Econometric research on selected policy issues using selected econometric techniques.
Regulation and Public Policy
Political, economic, legal, and organizational theories of regulation in the Canadian and comparative context. Processes and consequences of regulatory practice in selected Canadian public policy fields.
Health Policy in Canada
Canadian health policies and programs set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Economics and Health Policy
This course applies microeconomic theory to a discussion of health policy. Focus on issues of particular interest to a student of Canadian health care policy.
Canadian Economic Policy
Overview of Canadian economic development and how it has been affected by governments. Topics may be drawn from monetary, fiscal, industrial, trade, labour market or competition policies, viewed in contemporary and historical contexts.
Indigenous Policy
Canadian policies and programs on Indigenous peoples and Indigenous peoples' own policies as nations set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4224, for which additional credit is precluded.
Trade Policy
Canadian multilateral and regional trade policies and programs set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4225, for which additional credit is precluded.
Tax Policy
Canadian tax policies set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4226, for which additional credit is precluded.
Education Policy
Canadian policies and programs on education set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Social Policy
The nature and historical development of social programs in capitalist countries, with particular focus on Canada. The course will concentrate on developing a critical understanding of the social forces shaping these programs.
The Health of Populations
Assessment of the medical model, and perspectives on the social and economic determinants of health, population health, and community health. The health of particular groups in Canada (e.g., women, Aboriginal peoples). International comparisons will be made.
Ethics for Public Policy
The development and application of ethical theories to examine not simply what governments could do, but what they should do on the basis of consequences, principles, or motivations. Applications could include policies affecting climate change, income inequality, end of life, privacy, use of force.
Directed Studies
A tutorial or directed reading course on selected subjects related to policy analysis.
Policy Seminar (Data Science Specialization)
One or more selected policy areas and topics related to policy and administration in the data science context. Topics will change each year.
Directed Studies (Data Science Specialization)
A tutorial of directed reading on selected subjects related to data science.
Organization Theory
Focusing on major theoretical approaches to organizations, the course develops practical insights into issues such as organizational design, leadership, technology, culture and diversity, motivation and power. It applies these insights to organizations in both the public and private sectors in a variety of national contexts.
Law of Public Authorities II
Characteristics and selected problems of control of administrative action. Topics may include: varieties of constitutional, legal and judicial control, impact of the Charter, reforms to administrative law control systems in Canada, and comparisons with developments outside Canada.
Strategic Management in the Public Sector
Key concepts, principles and tools of strategic management, and their use in planning and policy implementation in the public sector. Reviews critical perspectives and cases in order to identify some of the limitations of strategic management.
Budgetary Management for the Public Sector
Theory and practice of budgeting in the public sector. From a management perspective, the course focuses on the objectives, methods and systems for the control and reporting of expenditures.
Principles of Finance
The use of financial assets to obtain funds, evaluative criteria to compare alternative uses of funds, and derivative contracts to manage risk. Public sector applications of these practices are emphasized.
Human Resources Management
The field of human resources management including the roles of human resource departments, employee motivation, staffing, compensation, benefits, training and development and employee relations.
Industrial Relations and Public Sector Collective Bargaining
The basic concepts of industrial relations, with respect to both public and private sector employees and organizations.
Policy and Program Evaluation
Selected concepts, issues, and processes in applied governmental planning and evaluation, utilizing both Canadian and comparative experiences.
Globalizing Public Management
Public sector reform has swept the developed and developing world in the last two decades. The dynamics of this global movement, the models exported and adopted, and the success and failure of these exports.
Urban and Local Government
The role of municipal government in the context of Canadian federalism. Current economic, political and social trends affecting Canada's major urban centres including growth, amalgamation, fiscal reform, immigration, housing, community engagement, and sustainable development.
Third Sector Governance and Management
Governance and management of voluntary/nonprofit organizations and their role in democracy, public policy, and service delivery.
Evaluation Cases and Applications
Selected case studies and emerging theories and issues in the development, design, management and implementation of policy and program evaluation.
Introduction to Policy and Program Evaluation
Survey of evaluation in Canada and internationally. Topics include: Canadian context for public sector evaluation practice; approaches to research in evaluation; essentials of effective evaluation design, including logic modeling, theories of change/action, and contribution/attribution constructs.
Quantitative Research Methods in Evaluation
Descriptive and inferential statistics, probability theory and sampling distributions, hypothesis testing of quantitative and qualitative population parameters, and regression analysis as these apply to the field of program evaluation.
Qualitative Research Methods in Evaluation
Methods used in qualitative evaluation research. Topics include: formulating evaluation research questions; deriving research designs from questions; qualitative data gathering techniques and approaches; managing evidence, ethics reviews, and analysis of qualitative data.
Benefit-Cost Analysis for Program Evaluation
Approaches to benefit-cost analysis in the Canadian evaluation context. Topics include: the role of benefit-cost analysis within program evaluation; its application to public sector investments, pricing and other forms of policy valuation; discount rates, marginal cost, and shadow pricing; risk and uncertainty.
Program Evaluation Planning and Designs
Application of specific evaluation research designs to actual projects. Topics include: designs for formative, summative and developmental programs; designs for policy evaluation; attribution and contribution analysis; applied logic modeling; and managing evaluation projects at the planning stages.
Prerequisite(s): PADM 5441, PADM 5442, PADM 5443, PADM 5444.
Program Evaluation Conduct, Analysis and Reporting
Application of evaluation conduct to actual projects. Topics include: selecting data analysis methods specific to a project; forming evaluation findings and recommendations; data visualization; reporting techniques; and management of evaluation projects at the conduct stages.
Energy Economics
Micro- and macroeconomic concepts and techniques applied to such topics as international energy markets, energy production, and energy consumption.
Energy Management
The fundamentals of energy management, focusing on current practices in both private and public sector organizations.
International Politics of Sustainable Energy
Recent historical and contemporary developments in the role of energy in inter- and intranational relations, involving such topics as Canada/US relations, the international political economy of oil, energy security, and climate change.
Sustainable Energy Policy
The institutions involved in energy policy, the processes through which policy is made, and the substantive energy-related issues currently preoccupying policy makers.
Policy Seminar (Sustainable Energy)
One or more selected topics or specialized aspects of sustainable energy policy. The topic will change each year.
Science and Technology Policies
Theory and practice regarding governmental policies for science and technology, and the use of scientific knowledge in the policy and regulatory processes of government. Concerns regarding the ethical issues and the transparency of science in government.
Industrial Policy, Innovation and Sustainable Production
Sustainable production theory and key drivers, barriers and opportunities influencing innovation in industrial systems and processes. The relationship of public policies and industry practices are explored in a number of sectors.
Science, Risk and Evaluation
Risk-benefit theories and practices and related issues in the evaluation of science and technology; how they are handled in applied regulatory and policy institutions in selected sectors (e.g. pesticides; health protection; biotechnology).
Natural Resource Management
Governance and management of natural resources from a Canadian and international perspective. The use of various management instruments, regulatory approaches and community-based and co-management institutions are evaluated with evidence from several case studies from around the world.
Politics and Policy of Energy in Canada
Dilemmas associated with energy policy in Canada. Economic, social and environmental dimensions of energy decision making; Canadian issues within the context of a changing international scene and long term energy transitions.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4615, for which additional credit is precluded.
Environmental Policy
Canadian environmental policies and programs set in a comparative political-economic and institutional context.
Implementing Sustainable Development in Industrialized Countries
Genesis and evolution of the idea of sustainable development and the ways in which it is influencing public policy and public sector structures and processes. Canada's performance in implementing sustainable development will be assessed in comparison with other industrialized countries.
Environmental and Ecological Economics
Environmental and ecological economics with applications to public policy and environmental management issues. Concepts of sustainability, non-market valuation and ecological stability, the determination of environmental targets, and the use of policy instruments, incentives and emissions markets.
Urban Sustainability
Impact of economic growth and social change on cities and their attempts to forge sustainable growth. Incorporating political and fiscal issues, the focus is on 'smart growth' policies and initiatives in areas such as environmental control, transport, land use, housing and infrastructure.
The Science, Politics and Economics of Global Climate Change
Scientific issues at the core of climate change and the domestic and international policy responses. Various environmental, economic, and political implications for both the developed and developing worlds and for the various regions of Canada.
Policy Seminars
Directed Studies (Indigenous Public Administration)
A tutorial or directed reading course on selected subjects.
Indigenous-Canada Relations: Governance and Policy History
Introduction to pre-contact history of select Indigenous nations and peoples, overview of contact period: the treaty relationship, evolving jurisprudence, changing power dynamics, federal and provincial administrative practices, contemporary and traditional forms of First Nations, Métis and Inuit governance. Contrasting approaches to understanding foundational events.
Issues in Contemporary Governance: First Nations, Métis and Inuit
Diverse approaches to understanding and responding to the main governance issues facing contemporary and traditional First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments and organizations in Ontario and in the rest of Canada.
Leadership and Management in Indigenous Organizations and Governments
Leadership, organizational development and innovation in various cultural contexts relevant to Indigenous peoples, organizational design, recruitment and human resources management, decision-making, project planning and implementation, media and communications. Practicum included.
Financial Management in First Nations, Métis and Inuit Governments and Organizations
Legislation, regulations, and financial management practices that apply in First Nations, Métis, Inuit organizations and governments. Sources and measures to mitigate and eliminate historical disparity, including asset management, strategic investment, and capital aggregation.
Policy Research and Evaluation for Indigenous Policy and Administration
Policy research and program evaluation; applied research ethics, cultural and community protocols, legal frameworks, formulation of research problems, research design, and techniques for collecting and managing community-based and other data; research methodologies of specific Indigenous nations and peoples, and scholarly debates about epistemology and practice.
Economic and Community Development in Indigenous Territories
Community economic development theories; the ethics, benefits and costs of traditional, current and new approaches pertinent to building stable economies in rural and urban Aboriginal settings.
Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law
Canadian law relating to Indigenous peoples from colonial times to the present. Jurisprudence on Indigenous and treaty rights: the duty to consult, fiduciary duties, the honour of the Crown, nation-to-nation relations; introduction to First Nations, Métis and Inuit legal traditions, and international law.
Indigenous Peoples and Urban Policy and Administration
Policies and programs of and for Indigenous peoples living in Canadian cities, with a focus on institutional and intergovernmental challenges and opportunities for change.
Indigenous Health and Social Policy
Development and delivery of health and social policies pertinent to Indigenous peoples living in diverse circumstances in Canada; theories and practices.
Policy Seminar (Indigenous Policy and Administration)
One or more selected policy areas or specialized aspects of Indigenous Policy and Administration. The policy field or topic will change each year.
The International Policy Framework
The evolution of the main international rules and institutions governing the economic relationships among nation states, with emphasis on the changing roles of the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF, World Bank, GATT/ WTO).
Governance in Developing Countries
The roles of the state and civil society in the governance of developing countries in the context of public sector reform and globalization.
The Evolution of World Bank/IMF Policy Conditionality
The changing nature of World Bank/IMF policy conditionality with emphasis on the period since the onset of the 1982 debt crisis.
Program and Project Management
The context, critical issues and methods relating to the planning and implementation of development programs and projects.
Civil Society Organizations and Development
The context, roles, structures and strategies of nongovernmental organizations in the development process at the global, national and local levels. The role of development aid and NGOs is considered.
Program Evaluation in Developing Countries
The context, critical issues and methods relating to the evaluation of development interventions.
Health Policy in Developing Countries
Debates regarding health policy in the developing world, in the context of the global health sector reform movement, trade and intellectual property regimes, and strategies of corporate and NGO actors. Issues of gender, class and the determinants of health.
Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as PADM 4817, for which additional credit is precluded.
Theories of Development
A survey of the theories and evidence to explain processes of growth and development, and their unevenness, in low-income countries and transition economies.
Research Essay
M.P.P.A. Thesis
Co-operative Work Term
Prerequisite(s): registration in the Co-operative Education Option of the M.A. program and permission of the Co-op Supervisor.
Current Issues in Public Policy
Current issues in Canadian public policy, their historical contexts, and interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing them. Issues may include inequality, gender, environment, Indigenous governance, US/Canada relations, populism. Approaches to analysis may include contemporary and classic thinkers.
Theoretical Foundations of Public Policy
Normative and explanatory theories fundamental to public policy, drawing on multiple social science disciplines and incorporating ethical, economic, and political/administrative perspectives. Topics may include utilitarianism, rights-based traditions, contractualism, market failure, life-course dynamics.
Policy Process and Institutions
Various theoretical approaches to policy-making. Topics may include policy formation, agenda-setting, institutionalism, theories of the bureau, theories of policy change, policy design and implementation, policy evaluation, advocacy and coalitions, private policy-making.
Research Design for Public Policy
Introduction to the analytical challenges to the study of public policy, and ways of addressing them. Exploration of why particular explanatory, interpretive and normative research questions are asked; and why particular theories, units of analysis, concepts, methods and data are used.
Doctoral Research Seminar
Issues in developing research proposals and conducting public policy research; includes research presentations by senior doctoral students and faculty. Required for second-year doctoral students who present their thesis proposals. Issues surrounding quantitative or qualitative methods in public policy analysis may be discussed. Graded Pass/Fail.
Doctoral Research Seminar
Presentations on research skills and strategies such as ethics approval, bibliographic software, work-flow management, subsequent publication. Supervised independent research projects preliminary to Ph.D. Thesis, drawing upon interdisciplinary approaches to study of public policy. Graded SAT/UNS.
Ph.D. Comprehensive Examination
Ph.D. preparation for the comprehensive examination. The grade to be awarded will be that obtained on the comprehensive examination.
Ph.D. Specialization Tutorial
A Ph.D. tutorial covering advanced theory and research in an area of specialization generally related to public policy. Specific topics will be selected in consultation with, and must be approved by, the academic supervisor and Ph.D. co-ordinator.
Ph.D. Specialization Tutorial
A Ph.D. tutorial covering advanced theory and research in an area of specialization generally related to public policy. Specific topics will be selected in consultation with, and must be approved by, the academic supervisor and Ph.D. co-ordinator.
Ph.D. Thesis
A thorough investigation of a public policy issue that integrates multiple disciplines into the analysis.
Prerequisite(s): successful public defence of written thesis proposal.
Note: Not all courses listed are offered in a given year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings for the current session and to determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca.
Summer session: some of the courses listed in this Calendar are offered during the summer. Hours and scheduling for summer session courses will differ significantly from those reported in the fall/winter Calendar. To determine the scheduling and hours for summer session classes, consult the class schedule at central.carleton.ca