Program and courses Politics, Policy and Societal Development

You will take the following courses in block 1:

• Social Changes and Sustainable Development
  In this course, you will get an overview of the most urgent global challenges for sustainable development, such as poverty and inequality, migration, climate change and environmental degradation, illustrating how they foster social change on different levels of analysis. You will discuss the role organizations can play in tackling global sustainable development issues, particularly through sustainable business models and by leveraging digital platforms, and the challenges and shortcomings such organizational interventions may entail.
• Master Seminar: From Theory to Research
  Throughout the program, Master’s seminars will prepare you for your Master’s thesis, which will focus on one or more Sustainable Development Goals.

You will take the following courses in block 2:

• Social Policy and Social Risks
  In this course, you address the topic of social policy and welfare states. Against the backdrop of global challenges and widespread socio-economic changes, you investigate how various ‘welfare regime types’ have developed over time in different countries, reflective of different concepts of social solidarity and leading to varied outcomes in terms of economic well-being (poverty, life chances), stratification patterns (inequality), and life-course risks and their consequences. 
• Master Seminar: From Theory to Research
  Throughout the program, Master’s seminars will prepare you for your Master’s thesis, which will focus on one or more Sustainable Development Goals.
• Master's thesis

You will take the following courses in block 3:

• Hybrid Organizations
  In this course, you are introduced to the role of hybrid organizations, and will consider various organizational models and initiatives that may strengthen policy actions in tackling complex and compelling social issues and improving sociodemographic indicators. You will investigate different types of ‘hybrid organizations’, especially social entrepreneurship, the challenges they confront, such as those related to measuring social impact and international scaling, as well as the actions they undertake to overcome them. 
• Master's thesis

You will take the following courses in block 4:

• Politics and Society in Comparative Perspective*
  You develop cross-country analyses of politics and societies, particularly focusing on the rise of populistic groups and of populistic rhetoric.
• Health and Policy*
  Delve into concepts and key theories in health and policy, and illustrate them with practical examples like health and wellbeing in relation to social and economic factors, policy interventions at macro/meso/micro level, illiteracy, education, poverty, housing, (un)employment, or social and physical environment.
• Master's thesis

*You can either follow Politics and Society in Comparative Perspective or Health and Policy, not both.

Throughout the program, Master’s seminars will prepare you for writing your Master’s thesis, which will focus on a Global Management of Social Issues (GMSI) related topic in the area of societal challenges and sustainable development.

• In your Master’s thesis, you will investigate societal interventions that have been designed and/or implemented to address global social challenges/one or more Sustainable Development Goals, which are formulated by the United Nations.
• You will have the opportunity to do a project in an emerging country, hosted by a partner university, or accompanied by an internship in an international organization ((non-)government, or private).
• You will write your Master's thesis within the Department of Sociology.
• Master's seminars are organized throughout the program, to prepare you for your thesis, by developing academic and research skills. 
• In case you do an Extended Master's program, it is preferable (but not mandatory) to connect your thesis to the junior traineeship. 

Thesis examples

• Explaining maternal healthcare utilization across low-and middle-income countries. A multilevel model testing the influence of religion and gender equality
• Homeowners’ attitudes towards renewable energy sources
• Political legitimacy of energy policies. How do national energy policies moderate the relationship between citizen’s power supply concern and political trust? 
• Integration is not a one-way process. An interview study on perceived discrimination based on ethnicity among highly educated Dutch citizens with an immigration background
• Is meat manly? Exploring different explanations for the relationship between gender and meat consumption
• Is women’s education the exit way from poverty? Investigating women’s (economic) role and the impact of country-level differences in developing countries
• Do voters give what they want? An exploration of the role of public support in Official Development Assistance Spending in European donor countries