Teaching

Nitin Pai

Yes, I know the one that goes “those who can’t, teach.” I think that put-down was invented to deter soft-skinned, kind-hearted people from taking up teaching. For if you can’t handle snarky comments, you can’t really teach.

So I teach public policy, international relations, technology policy and ethical reasoning at Takshashila Institution. The school offers a 12-week Graduate Certificate in Public Policy (GCPP) and 48-week Post Graduate Programme in Public Policy (PGP). All courses are taught online.

These are the courses I am teaching in the Academic Years 2021 and 2022

PP213: Ethical Reasoning in Public Policy

Kenan Malik’s The Quest for a Moral Compass is the course text book.

This course is offered as a compulsory credit course for PGP and workshop session for GCPP. I take students through reflection techniques, moral dilemmas, ethical frameworks (virtue, duty, dharma, consequentialist and constitutional) and an Eightfold Path for Ethical Reasoning in Public Policy. We then discuss a series of ethical dilemmas in the form of cases, and students engage in a formal debate. Evaluation is through class participation and reflective essay.

You can take this course as a stand-alone special credit course, usually in September.

CT2: Social Impact Analysis and Responsible Strategy

This course is offered as a core module for GCPP (Tech and Policy) and involves 4 weeks of coursework and one weekend workshop. We use our Social Impact Analysis framework to enable technologists, scientists and entrepreneurs to anticipated the intended and unintended consequences of innovations. The framework estimates how individuals, markets, governments and society might respond to new technology. This is used to analyse risks, manage stakeholders and address ethical concerns. Evaluation is through a workshop and an intense real life policy analysis exercise.

CS3: Economics of Strategy

Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, and Mikail Wigel’s Geo-economics and power politics in the 21st Century are the course text books.

This is offered as a core module for GCPP (Defence and Foreign Affairs) and involves 6 weeks of webinars, course work and graded assessment. It covers the sources, utility, strengths and limitations of economic power in statecraft. We cover a lot of ground in the direct and indirect use of economic power, and its transformation into military, knowledge and cultural power.

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