Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• Outline different concepts and modes of governance.
• Explain how institutions can restrict or facilitate the management and governance of sustainability dilemmas.
• Describe how successful examples of post-normal governance relate to different theories of governance.

Competence and Skills

• Identify and conceive the conditions for the enactment of transformative learning as a governance approach.
• Develop a transformation pathway for a specific societal case based on governance methods and theories.

Judgment and Approach

• Critically evaluate the capacity of different policy instruments to empower diverse societal intersections in global health contexts under complex socio-biophysical conditions.
• Critically reflect upon the appropriate mix of coercive and non-coercive policy approaches to enable transformation in different contexts under post-normal conditions.

Content

This course explores the role of institutions and policies in fostering transformative learning across different societal intersections at various scales, from local to global. This understanding is crucial in reconciling sustainability challenges in global health contexts. The course departs from post-normal conditions, which refers to situations in which "facts are uncertain, complexity is the norm, values are in dispute, stakes are high and decisions are urgent". Post-normal theory aims to recast the view of socio-biophysical problems as social dilemmas whereby the governance situation is shaped by an irreducible degree of complexity and uncertainty and the presence of power differentials. This course encourages the students to critically reflect upon the appropriate mix of coercive and non-coercive policy approaches to enable transformation​ in different contexts under post-normal conditions.

Instruction

The course consists of lectures, literature studies, mandatory seminars and group and individual assignments and presentations. Sessions are interactive and students are encouraged to draw on their own experiences from the fields presented. The language of instruction is English.

Assessment

All written exams and mandatory parts must be approved to pass the course. The course's final grade is based on a weighted rating of all course sections. Possibility to complete non-approved mandatory assignments may be given at the next course opportunity, at the earliest, and only in case of vacancy. If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University´s disability coordinator. All examinations are in English.​