This course has start dates in January and September.
The MA in International Social Policy provided by the Nottingham School of Sociology and Social Policy is designed to meet the rising demand for knowledge of international policy-making: determinants, processes and consequences. It throws light on how the international power centres (including The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Programme, International Labour Organisation and World Trade Organisation) respond to the conflicting interests of rich and poor countries; and whether their policy outcomes benefit or harm the world’s poor.
The course provides comparisons of the welfare models of the United States, the UK, Sweden and other European countries. The recently expressed mutual disdain and incomprehension of the UK and the US over their rival health care systems – and what developing countries can learn from this debate - typifies this aspect of the course.
Western welfare models are studied, but also referred to as benchmarks when examining the changes in well being due to the global movement of goods (international trade), capital (foreign direct investment), labour (international migration) and technology (intellectual property rights). The issues highlighted include conflicts over employment between the developed and less developed regions; international migration and brain drain; trade or aid and poverty alleviation.
Rigorous training in methods allows evaluation of policy outcomes, not only in terms of their effectiveness and efficiency, narrowly defined, but also extending to consider their socio-economic and political consequences. Policies to be evaluated include the World Bank’s ‘Poverty Reduction Strategies’; United Nation’s ‘Millennium Development Goals’; World Trade Organisation’s membership threshold and trade negotiations; and ‘Development Aid’ policies.
A research-led curriculum throws light on how international power centres respond to the conflicting interests of rich and poor countries; and whether their policies produce outcomes that benefit or harm the world's poor.
Staff in the inter-disciplinary team transfer knowledge of a variety of welfare models and country experience with an emphasis on comparative analysis of social policy.
Rigorous training in methods allows evaluation of policy outcomes in terms of their effectiveness and efficiency, extending to consider their socio-economic and political consequences.