Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Public Policy invites all to the Ethic and Public Policy executive education course by Assistant Professor Dina Sharipova on February 25-26, 2021 in an online format. 

Please download the course brochure here

Course: Ethics and Public Policy

Instructor: Assistant Professor Dina Sharipova

Price per participant: 82 000 KZT

Registration form:

Course description: a brief description of the course. This course focuses on normative values and ethical dilemmas in public policy. The key purpose of this course is to prepare participants to have a critical perspective on public policy and to be able to evaluate the moral dilemmas that policy makers, politicians, and citizens have to face in the policy-making process and beyond. We will examine how policy actors use moral reasoning and ethical arguments – justice, fairness, freedom, duty/obligation, efficiency – to motivate and justify policy preferences. The course will focus on main ethical approaches, a study of dilemmas, norms and values in public policy and professional ethics; and the analysis of public policy case studies to address the ethical and moral dimensions of a number contemporary domestic and international policy issues.

Course aims (CAs):
1. To analyze and interpret major theoretical paradigms and dilemmas of ethics in public policy.
2. To develop advanced analytical and critical thinking skills for researching in the field of public policy.
3. To provide critical and complex normative perspectives on ethical values in public policy.

Course learning outcomes (CLOs): By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. To identify ethical issues in public policy and to be able to distinguish but at the
same time to relate them to legal and political aspects
2. To understand problems and potential solutions for common ethical challenges in
public policy research.
3. To be able to respond to ethical challenges faced by public policy professionals in their
work.

Teaching and learning activities and methods: Discussions, case studies, presentations

Language of teaching: English with Russian translation

Curriculum: structure and content of the course.

Session 1 What is ethics? Ethical Approaches and Their Application to Public Policy
This session will focus on the nature of ethics, its origins and importance for public policy. We will discuss three areas of ethics – metaethics, normative, and applied ethics. This session will also cover such important ethical theories as virtue ethics, utilitarianism and deontology. During this session, participants will apply those theories to different cases relevant to public policy. Case study of ethical dilemmas will be used.

Session 2. Welfare State and Ethical Dilemmas
This session will focus on ethical dilemmas related to issues of justice, equality, poverty, and discrimination. We will discuss two main approaches to justice offered by John Rawls and Robert Nozick and apply them to the context of Kazakhstan. What ethical dilemmas might civil servants face when dealing with issues of poverty and inequality? What is a fair distribution of resources and wealth among citizens? What is the role of government in the distribution of wealth? What should government do to increase justice in a society and decrease discrimination? Are ethical commissioners effective to promote ethical behavior of
civil servants in Kazakhstan? Case studies will be included.

Session 3: Ethics of Personal and Professional Integrity in Civil Service.
This session will have two parts. In the first part we will focus on the issue of personal integrity and dignity in civil service. We will focus on important ethical dilemma of “dirty hands” and look at cases of corruption in civil service of Kazakhstan. Second part of the session will focus on issues of political violence where we will discuss ethical dilemmas related to political violence, including the problem of torture. Case studies will be included.

Session 4. Who Makes the Decision?:Ethics of Life and Death
During this session we will evaluate, criticize and discuss such important ethical dilemmas as euthanasia, organ donation, and capital punishment. What ethical both personal and professional dilemmas, do civil servants face when making decisions? Should Kazakhstan resume capital punishment or not? Who makes the decision on organ donation in the country? Should the authorities of Kazakhstan introduce euthanasia or not? Case studies will be included.

Faculty and staff (if non- NU staff is involved): the qualifications and experience of the teaching
staff.

Dina Sharipova – Assistant Professor, Ph.D. in Political Science (Indiana University, Bloomington). She worked as a Research Director of the College of Social Sciences, (KIMEP University, 2016-2018) and served on the Board of the European Society for Central Asian (2016-2019). Currently, Dr. Sharipova is a member of the editorial board of Central Asian Survey. Dr. Sharipova has taught courses on Research Design and Methodology, Advanced Qualitative Methods, Ethics in Public Policy, and other. Her research interests include nation and state-building, formal and informal institutions, identity politics, and social capital and
well-being in Central Asia.

Contact: execed.gspp@nu.edu.kz; zhanar.ismailova@nu.edu.kz; + 7 7172 70 64 62