Assimilation of Public Policy Concepts Through Role-Play: Distinguishing Rational Design and Political Negotiation

  • Authors:

  • Pieter W. G. Bots;F. Pieter Wagenaar;Rolf Willemse

  • Affiliations:

  • Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands,;Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,;Rotterdam Audit Office, Rotterdam, The Netherlands,

  • Venue:
  • Simulation and Gaming
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

One important objective of introductory courses in public administration is to sensitize students to the difference between two concepts: substantive rationality and political rationality. Both types of rationality play an important role in policy processes. Yet, although the difference is straightforward in theory, and is addressed and well-illustrated in most standard textbooks on public administration, students seem to have difficulty internalizing it. This article reports on our findings from a role-playing game designed to make students experience the difference between policy making as a process of rational design and policy making as a process of political negotiation. We conducted an experiment involving a large group of students enrolled in a first year, one-semester course, and a control group of students who enrolled in the same course 1 year later. The former were tested four times (start of the course, immediately before and after playing the game, and 3 months later) and the latter two times (at the start of the course and at the exam) for their understanding of how policy making芒聙聰as-rational-design and policy making芒聙聰as-political-negotiation differ on seven characteristics. Comparison of test results obtained before and after the role-play indicates a positive learning effect for some characteristics, and a negative learning effect for others.