Master 2022/2023

Argument culture: policy reasoning, public debates and public persuasion

Type: Elective course (Political Analysis and Public Policy)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: Public Policy Department

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 2 year, 1, 2 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Anna Nikitichna Potsar

Master’s programme: Political Analysis and Public Policy

Language: English

ECTS credits: 5

Contact hours: 40

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course introduces communicative practices of public policy, starting with the basic notion of dialogue represented as the form of existence of discursive practices in the public sphere. Discourse is understood as a social ideologically loaded speech activity. The course teaches how to develop the public dialogue to advocate human rights in а politically sensitive environment, how to initiate and conduct a public communication on specified topic in order to reach a goal. The analysis of the political discourse shows the correlation between actor’s political status and influence and quality of public dialogue conducted. Using the linguo-pragmatic approach to the estimation of discursive practices in public policy, students will get the skills to specify prospective directions for the improvement and development of public dialogue in terms of civic activity and interaction between civic society and authorities. Analyzing the structure of discourse, students will learn to identify the discourse of exclusion and to distinguish mechanisms and technologies of othering: categorization, paternalism, segregation, assimilation. Students will assess the rhetorical model of human rights movement, its language and values within the dialogue between participants representing confronting worldviews. The course focuses not only on the analysis of the existing practices, it also shows the methods of introducing new notions and new attitudes to the society: how to shift the agenda, how to explain and argue new values. The course pays much attention to techniques of policy reasoning and to the theory and practice of argumentation. This course is designed for the international group of students which includes participants originating from the developing societies as well as from the transition economy. For these regions the question of othering and inequality still is a pivotal issue, and the course will highlight the basic techniques of starting and conducting the public debate which could change the order of things.