Our aim in this course is to provide a clear understanding of what public policies are and how we can study and critique the programs and policies developed by the state. The main topics presented in this course are: 1. Public vs private, defining the public sector; 2. Public and private goods and the size of public sector; 3. Defining public polices; 4. State intervention in economy – or why do we need public polices?; 5. Agenda setting; 6. Formulation: arguing, bargaining, and getting agreement; 7. Alternative models of public management; 8. Governing the commons: state, market or community?; 9. Policy transfer: between success and failure; 10. Public policies implementation; 11. The Politics of Policy Evaluation.