Politics

From the Shadows into the Light: Political Advisers and Policy Making
Module POL3228 for 2020/1

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL3228: From the Shadows into the Light: Political Advisers and Policy Making

This module descriptor refers to the 2020/1 academic year.

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

PART I: Advisers and their institutional habitat

Who is a political adviser? Delimiting the subject of study. The concept of political adviser
Where do political advisers work? The institutional habitat of advisers - Administrative traditions in comparison
What is the profile of political advisers? Educational and socio-demographic background of the adviser elite.
Why are advisers employed? Politicization and policy capacity

PART II: Advisers and policy making

What do political advisers do? A classification of advisers’ substantive policy roles
What is the dimension of advisers’ work? Working with civil servants, other advisers and stakeholders.
What is the content of political advisers work? Content of policy advice, policy analytical tools and use of knowledge by advisers

PART III: Advisers and their relationship with civil servants and politicians

How do political advisers interfere with the civil servants? From the traditional binary political-administrative relationship to a “menage a trois”.
How do advisers interact with politicians and how much influence do they have? Advisers and the circles of trust surrounding politicians.

PART IV: Advisers and accountability

From the shadows into the light, are political advisers accountable and to whom?

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
44	256	0

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities	44	22 x 2 hour seminars
Guided Independent Study	88	Reading set texts and wider reading
Guided Independent Study	3	Preparing for guest speakers
Guided Independent Study	40	Conducting research and preparing for the short answer questions
Guided Independent Study	100	Conducting research and writing the essay
Guided Independent Study	24	Preparation for individual presentation in class

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).