Syllabus
Course programme The course consists of the following themes:
1. Introduction to the course, governments and businesses: interests, philosophies, visions
2. Brief history of government-business relations
3. Business vs government modes of operation: government and coroporate inner workings
4. Levels and modes of government-business interactions: Government running a business and business running public services and infrastructure
5. Multi-level system of regulations (EU-member states-local administration)
6. Designing regulations and contract writing, ways of promoting public and private interests
7. Public procurement, tendering strategies
8. Outsourcing, contracting out, joint ventures and public-private partnerships: practical examples
9. Is public-private-citizen collaboration the next phase in the development of the public-private relationship?
10. Corruption, monopoly, oligopoly and other socio-pathological phenomena degrading public-private interactions
Annotation
The historical importance of government-business relationship has only been stressed by the recent pandemic. This course aims to provide students with a practical knowledge of how the dynamics between the government and corporate workd works including various types and forms of government-business interactions and different strategies applied by the two sides in mutual encounters.
It focuses mainly on real-life examples and enables students to actively explore the range of operations and skills involved in public-private confrontations including dealing with major societal challenges, setting up social and economic regulations, public procurement, contracting out of public services and public-private partnerships. Students will get both the public and private sector perspectives of factors influencing decisions and will learn about the tools used in the evaluation, decision making process and negotiations.
Special attention will be paid to the role of citizens in balancing out the government-business relationships and to socio-pathological tendencies in government/business interactions. Students will be encouraged to identify, analyse and discuss cases of government-business or multilateral interactions of their interest in the class.
They will be able to practice skills they may utilise in their professional life. Simulations and role-playing games will form a part of the course.