Admission requirements
Students admitted to the Public Administration Master, regardless of track affiliation. GofS-students enrolment via study coordinator(s).
Description
Why do some countries have lower levels of corruption, deliver better public services, and enjoy greater citizen trust than others? Are there any key institutional characteristics of good government? What are the roles of public managers in creating a high-performing government?
This course investigates these fundamental questions from a public administration perspective, focusing on the institutional underpinnings of good government and effective governance. Students will examine how variations in institutional design—such as impartiality, merit-based recruitment, and autonomy—shape government performance and influence the behavior of public managers.
Recent scholarship in public administration and political science has re-emphasized the importance of bureaucracy in shaping governance outcomes. Research highlights how “Weberian” features—meritocracy, neutrality, and autonomy—contribute to lower corruption, better service delivery, innovation, and trust in government. Representation within bureaucracies also matters, with demographic diversity affecting both performance and policy outcomes. Yet, the field has often overlooked major institutional questions or assumed one-size-fits-all models across countries. This course addresses those limitations through a comparative and evidence-based approach.
Students will engage with cutting-edge academic literature, synthesize findings from a wide array of studies, and apply insights to current governance challenges. While grounded in theory, the course prepares students to move between scholarly analysis and practical problem-solving—skills essential for independent research, thesis development, and public sector leadership. By learning how institutions succeed or fail, students gain the perspective and analytical grounding needed to help build systems that serve citizens more effectively and fairly—whether in governments, international organizations, NGOs, or as engaged citizens.
Rather than limiting itself to theory, this course emphasizes the translation of academic research into real-world impact. Through a final assignment in the form of a policy brief, students practice communicating complex social science insights in clear, actionable terms for policymakers, civil society actors, and other stakeholders. In doing so, they practice turning research into ideas that can guide real decisions and reform efforts—developing skills valued not only in public service but also in policy consulting, think tanks, and socially engaged business.
The class will address questions such as: · What explains the variations in levels of corruption, government effectiveness, and innovativeness across national and sub-national governments? · Why do some countries have higher levels of corruption than others? · Which countries have better gender representation in their bureaucracies? · How does gender representation influence government performance and levels of corruption? · Why are public managers in some national or local governments more innovative than others? · How do the capacities and experience of public sector leaders affect performance?
Course objectives
Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:
Identify and compare core institutional characteristics of effective public administration across countries and governance levels;
Evaluate how institutional features such as impartiality, meritocracy, and representation influence corruption, service quality, and public trust;
Critically assess academic research in public administration and synthesize insights across studies;
Translate theoretical and empirical knowledge into evidence-based recommendations for real-world governance issues;
Apply research design and analytical skills to formulate independent research questions, develop thesis ideas, or inform policy advice.
Labour market
- This course equips students with analytical and communication skills that are crucial for roles in government, international organizations, policy analysis, and applied research. By focusing on how institutions work and how they can be improved, the course also prepares students to contribute to policy development and institutional reform in consulting firms, NGOs, and socially engaged private sector organizations.
Timetable
On the right side of programme front page of the E-guide you will find links to the website and timetables, uSis, and Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
This course takes participatory approaches of teaching rather than the classic lecture style approaches. Students are expected to actively engage in individual and group activity as well as class discussion. This course will be taught through a mix of lectures by the instructor, student presentations, group discussion, class activity, and class discussion facilitated by students.
The total course load for this course is 140 hours (5 EC x 28 hours). These hours are (approximately) spent on:
Attending lectures (a total of 14 hours), Self-study (e.g., studying readings and cases, completing assignments) (126 hours)
Assessment method
· Active class participation and in-class activities: 20% · Final assignment: 80%
All partial grades can be compensated. There is a retake opportunity for the final assignment. Starting from the 2020-2021 academic year, partial grades will no longer remain valid after the exam and the resit of the course.
Reading list
The course does not follow a single text across all sessions. Instead, each class session will consist of 2-5 mandatory readings, which should be available via Leiden University Library.
Registration
Please note, registration for block 2 electives will be organised by the OSC in a different way from the regular course registration for semester 1. More information about this will follow in the second half of September.
Leiden University uses Brightspace as its online learning management system. After enrolment for the course in MyStudymap you will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace environment of this course.
Contact
Dr. K. Suzuki k.suzuki@fgga.leidenuniv.nl