Our unit pursues two fundamental objectives in research, teaching and expertise activities.
On one hand, comparative public policy analysis aims to describe and understand the multiple dimensions (institutional, political, symbolical, etc…) and processes of political-administrative action – public problem definition, programming, implementation and evaluation – as to resolve public problems. Apart from contributing to scientific knowledge of policy processes, our unit also contributes, through mandates, to the strengthening of public action’s efficacy and efficiency in domains such as policy objectives coherence, stakeholder involvement, political resource allocation and implementation of action procedures.
On the other hand, our unit analyses sustainable development in its multiple interdependent dimensions (ecological, economic and social) in critical and prospective terms. Because sustainability is firstly understood as a matter of resource management, our unit has developed research, teaching and expertise capacity in relation to different natural (water, air, land, landscape, forest, genetic resources, etc.), infrastructural (networks, buildings, etc.) and immaterial (knowledge, culture, savoir-faire, etc.) resources over a period of 15 years.
