Level: Master's in Public Policy (Blavatnik School of Government)
Convenors: Thomas Hale, Thomas Elston, Anna Petherick, Pepper Culpepper
Topics: State capacity; state-building; comparative legislative systems; interest-group politics; bureaucracy; principal-agent/credible commitment problems; corruption; international relations theory
The Politics of Policymaking course is a required component of the Master's in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government. It introduces graduate students to how political science can help explain policy outcomes at various levels of decision-making. Each week features a lecture, case study session, and seminar discussion. The course begins with institutions, comparative legislative systems (e.g., presidential v. parliamentary states), and the politics of state-building. This is followed by a discussion of non-state actors' role in the policy-making process. Specifically, students are introduced to the principal-agent and credible commitment problems inherent in various policy-making arenas, including regulation of firms and delegation of rule-making/oversight authority to bureaucratic agencies. The course concludes with an overview of international relations theory, with particular emphasis on the role of international organizations and the capacity of non-state actors to coordinate across borders to achieve their objectives.
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My responsibilities included designing and teaching each week's seminar for approximately 19 students; providing feedback on essays; and grading mock exams.
Lecturer, 'Business and Entrepreneurship'
2019
Level: Oxford summer program for two international cohorts of students aged 16-17 and 18-24
Topics: Supply chains; legal entity structures; share classes; fundraising; business plan composition; risk mitigation; ethical business practices; regulatory obligations
I designed and taught two courses on business and entrepreneurship for visiting students aged 16-17 and 18-24. This course was highly interactive, asking students to pair into teams and create a new start-up over the course of two weeks. Each team composed a full business plan from scratch and delivered 20-minute presentations to their fellow students, each of whom was given a set amount of capital to invest. Throughout the course, students were asked to connect their proposals to key course concepts. Topics included supply chains; share classes and legal entity structures; fundraising; ethical business practices; and a special in-depth look at the process of becoming a regulated entity.
Lecturer, 'Brexit, Tea, and Yellow Umbrellas: The International Politics of Sovereignty'
2018
Degree: Oxford summer program for undergraduates attending The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Topics: International relations theory (realism, neo-liberal institutionalism); European Union; international negotiations; sovereignty; China and Hong Kong
I designed and taught this course for approximately 25 undergraduates from The Chinese University of Hong Kong visiting the University of Oxford. The course included 10 lectures and discussion sessions over the course of two weeks. It concluded with a mock negotiation of Brexit, with students assuming the roles of either the United Kingdom or the European Union.
Summary: This course will cover the international politics of sovereignty, with special reference to contemporary events in Britain, Hong Kong and the European Union (EU). We will begin with an introduction to predominant theories of international relations. Specifically, we will discuss how two theoretical approaches, realism and neo-liberal institutionalism, interpret the relationship between nations and international organizations (IOs). This will be followed by an introduction to the history, structure and political dynamics of the EU. We will examine in detail issues of sovereignty within the EU and discuss the decision of the United Kingdom to exit (Brexit). Next, we will discuss the relationship between Hong Kong and China, and discuss any similarities or differences to Brexit. Finally, we will conclude the course with a short game in which students will conduct a mock negotiation over the process of the UK leaving the EU.
Lecturer, 'The International Politics of Sovereignty'
2015
Degree: Oxford summer program for undergraduates attending The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Topics: International relations theory (realism, neo-liberal institutionalism); European Union; international negotiations; sovereignty; China and Hong Kong
I designed and taught this course for approximately 25 undergraduates from The Chinese University of Hong Kong visiting the University of Oxford. The course included 10 lectures and discussion sessions over the course of two weeks. It concluded with a mock negotiation of Brexit, with students assuming the roles of either the United Kingdom or the European Union.
Summary: This course will cover the international politics of sovereignty, with special reference to contemporary events in Britain, Hong Kong and the European Union (EU). We will begin with an introduction to predominant theories of international relations. Specifically, we will discuss how two theoretical approaches, realism and neo-liberal institutionalism, interpret the relationship between nations and international organizations (IOs). This will be followed by an introduction to the history, structure and political dynamics of the EU. We will examine in detail issues of sovereignty within the EU and discuss the decision of the United Kingdom to exit (Brexit). Next, we will discuss the relationship between Hong Kong and China, and discuss any similarities or differences to Brexit. Finally, we will conclude the course with a short game in which students will conduct a mock negotiation over the process of the UK leaving the EU.
