Complexity Seminars

This course is designed to introduce you to the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in public
policy. The course has two components:

(1) A Computational Bootcamp, which introduces you to the basic technical building
blocks of AI, including data, tasks, machine learning, and generative AI. The goal of
this component is to help you ‘look inside the black box’ of AI, so as to better
understand its uses, limitations, and potential impact on policy. The Bootcamp will
consist of interactive lectures and exercises.

(2) A Policy Reflection Lab, in which you will reflect on the challenges and opportunities
that AI tools pose both as objects of policy intervention, and as tools for
policymaking, particularly as regards fairness and accountability. The Lab will be
conducted seminar style, with guided discussion around specific policy questions and
scenarios.

Students are not expected to have any background in computer science or coding – in fact, if
you have a deep background in these areas the Computational Bootcamp is likely to be
redundant.

Instructor: Nick King and Derek Ruths

This intensive seminar is designed to build students’ confidence working with data and develop two core skills:

1. Critically evaluating quantitative evidence. Students will learn how to interrogate the reports, statistics, indicators, and datasets that shape public debate: where the data comes from, how it was produced, what its limitations are, and whether the conclusions drawn from it are justified. They will develop the judgment needed to spot misleading claims, question assumptions, and assess the strength of quantitative evidence.
2. Using data to investigate policy questions. Students will gain hands-on experience using real-world data and modern analytical tools to explore substantive policy questions. They will learn how to formulate questions that can be investigated with data, work through the limitations of imperfect datasets, interpret results responsibly, and translate complex evidence into clear and actionable insights.

The seminar will be offered at two levels (Intermediate and Advanced) to accommodate students with different levels of quantitative experience. Both versions will follow a similar structure and develop the same core skills, but will differ in the depth and sophistication of the analytical methods introduced and applied. The Intermediate seminar will emphasize accessible methods and building a strong foundation for working confidently with data, while the Advanced seminar will engage with more complex analytical techniques and their applications.

Instructor: Ricardo Chejfec/Béatrice Libchaber

A mastery of public policy requires understanding how major policy decisions are made. In this complexity seminar, students will explore key elements of the policy-making process, including agenda-setting, Cabinet decision-making, central agencies and program design, with an Instructor who has extensive policy and Cabinet management experience in the Government of Canada. Students will discuss some of the key dynamics involved in managing Cabinet, advancing Government priorities, departmental goals, central agencies and political considerations.

Instructor: Neil Bouwer

Developing successful public policy is a fundamentally communicative process. Policy problems and positions are shaped by rhetoric and public discourse and molded by evolving public opinion, advocacy, argumentation and personal bias. Even the soundest public policy solutions cannot be implemented with any durability without a strong coalition of supporters- likely built and maintained through a campaign of rhetoric.

Through this course, participants will gain an understanding of the many considerations and factors that shape a political position, frame and narrative, including self-interests, current events and ideology. We will explore how a political communications campaign is strategically deployed and how it must adapt to the current context, shifting public opinion and competing campaigns. We will explore public policy debate and the stress-test public policy must endure to be successful.

For policymakers, this will be an opportunity to view policy-making through a communications lens and learn to foresee political snags and vulnerabilities, as well as opportunities.

Instructor: Theordora Samiotis

Exploration of key variables in a budget, budget rules, the internal and external dynamics of budgeting, and the impact of debt burdens on countries.

Instructor: Louis Levesque

This seminar examines the dynamics and persistence of racial inequality in Canada and other advanced industrialized societies. Students will explore the ways that public policy has worked to aggravate and/or ameliorate these circumstances and analyze the impact of racial inequality on democratic norms and institutions.

Instructor: Jonathan Thompson

Transparency is generally considered a necessary condition of good democratic power, effective policies and accountability and an engaged citizenry. Democracy is now under strain around the world. Some are questioning whether we are entering a post-truth environment. This seminar examines policy transparency from a 360 degree public policy perspective. We will examine the assumptions and implications of transparency theory. Theory will collide with complexity and the public interest when we look at a full array of policy transparency challenges related to public finance, central banks, trade, income inequality, climate change and access to information laws. We will debate the benefits, costs, and obstacles on the design and implementation of policy transparency. We will look to the future, where the next generation of public policy leaders will grapple with the importance and challenges of policy transparency on big issues like income inequality and climate change in a more integrated global and digital environment.

Instructor: Kevin Page

Much of the economic literature around the development of public policy assumes that voters, elected officials, and the government apparatus is motivated by the public interest. But is this right? How does the public policy calculus change if we assume that voters, legislators, and government officials are also motivated by self-interest? That is the question that Public Choice tries to answer, and we will explore in this course.

Instructor: Ken Boessenkool

Examines food-systems transformation policies and programs at national and sub-national levels around the world. The course will provide concrete examples from both the Global North and South as well as exceptional case studies, such as China. Students will have the opportunity to explore other examples of their choosing, and an “open space” session will showcase their work and creativity. As per the findings of the Eat-Lancet Commission (2019) “food is the single strongest lever to optimize human health and environmental sustainability on Earth”.

The course has the general objective to equip students to articulate the policy issues within the food-system: Specifically, students will acquire systems thinking, coherent policymaking instincts, and analytical skills to advance sustainable food systems. Students will be able to describe and communicate increased knowledge and demonstrate skills to act as “change agents” across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors;

The course will be global in scope, but examples will draw heavily from the Canadian context. The weight given to various countries will be determined in part by where students anticipate working after graduation as well as their interests.

Instructor: Gisèle Yasmeen

Strategies for Economic Growth

Instructor: Miguel Ángel Santos

International Mediation

International mediation endeavours to bring conflict parties to the negotiating table to find non-violent ways of addressing conflicts in which they are enmeshed. To engage in international mediation requires would-be mediators to grapple with the complexity of contemporary conflicts, including their root causes, their intersection with regional and/or international dynamics as well as the values and interests of the myriad parties that are involved therein. Developing successful mediation strategies also requires mediators to consider security, political and economic arrangements that may provide the basis for mutual agreement. At the same time, mediators must remain cognizant of the necessity to respect their mandates, including normative and international legal commitments. Finally, mediators must understand the broader constellation of formal and informal initiatives seeking to engage with the parties. They must assess their capacity to collaborate and coordinate with, or to protect their processes from, other would-be mediators.

Through this course, participants will gain an understanding of the many considerations and factors that shape mediation strategies and affect their effectiveness. We will explore the requisites for mediation strategies to be successful and apply our knowledge to real-world cases.

Instructor: Marie-Joëlle Zahar