Relevance
The Social License (TSL) is a relatively new concept in the public administration literature. The term first appeared in Canada with respect to resource development and related transportation projects. The concept of an informal ‘social’ license is comfortably compatible with legal norms in countries that operate under the principles of common law
Significance of the Research
The concept of the Democratic Deficit argues that elections are insufficient checks for the regulatory process. TSL has developed as one approach to address the Democratic Deficit. This paper argues that TSL is an important topic and should be integrated into the MPA curriculum.
Research Question
Does the pedagogy of TSL provide an opportunity to integrate other relevant topics, such as: governance, the democratic deficit, social capital, social networks and corporate governance?
Does TSL provides an opportunity to experiment with alternative teaching methodologies, such as: simulations, reverse classrooms and student initiated case studies?
Conclusions and pedagogical implications will be derived from a Meta-Analysis of the literature.
Theory
A social license is usually granted on a site-specific basis. Hence a company may have a social license for one operation but not for another. The license is granted by “the community”. In most cases, it is more accurate to describe the granting entity as a network of stakeholders instead of a community. Networks facilitates the participation of groups or organizations that might not be part of a geographic community. Stakeholders indicate that the network includes groups and organizations that are either affected by the operation or that can affect the operation. The most significant level of TSL, co-ownership, can only occur when a high level of trust is present.
Results
The paper will stimulate discussion with respect to TSL and the potential to experiment with the integration of key topics in the public administration literature and the ability to utilize alternative teaching approaches. We argue that the pedagogy of TSL provides an interesting opportunity to integrate other relevant topics, such as: governance, the democratic deficit, social capital, social networks and corporate governance. Potential content for each of these topics will be presented.
TSL also provides an opportunity to experiment with alternative teaching methodologies, such as: simulations, reverse classrooms and student initiated case studies. We conclude with a call to action for collaborative experimentation and the publication of follow-up research to assess the benefits of integrating TSL into the MPA curriculum
Creating and co-creating value through teaching and education in public management
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