Ph.D. programs in policy sciences: Who,when, where,what, and why?

Policy sciences is compared to other new disciplines. Its independent methodological base, research structure, and education objectives are discussed with respect to multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and disciplinary stages of development. The interrelationship of teaching and research and of application and theory as well as the continual development required from a changing domain of application suggest that policy sciences will always be a new developing, interdisciplinary field. Such features present policy sciences with both the key to its potential long-term viability and the major impediments to its introduction into the university system. The present desirability of a few highly experimental doctorate programs, with the highest level faculty, students, and financial support, is considered. Exploratory and operational research modes are described with respect to type of project, individual goals and attitudes, and organizational requirements. The suitability of formal education and exploratory research to the university and of research in the operational mode to research institutes suggests an informally structured para-academic entity which spans the university boundary. Organizational, financial, and education strategies are discussed. Suggestions for implementing the personal and organizational renewal required of an incompletely defined and continuously changing field are offered.The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Rockefeller University or any sponsoring organizations.     

从大学生就业角度谈高校以人为本的内涵式发展战略

人精神上第一需求是尊重,自我价值的实现是人生最高的也是最大的需求。使学生具有实现自我价值能力的人才培养目标是高校对学生的最高尊重,是高校内涵式发展战略的核心。落实以人为本的内涵式发展战略需要高校开展学生的社会化教育、从业能力教育和择业能力教育,需要高校提高教师的综合素质。     

The Spaces of Democracy and the Democracy of Space: A New Network Exploring the Disciplinary Effects of the Spatial Turn

There is much concern in the social sciences and humanities today about how people are connected with and responsible to those who live in distant places. Recent examples are abundant: from climate change to the cyclone that hit Burma in 2008. At the same time, new forces and personalities in the social sciences and humanities are seeking to ‘open out’ understandings of ‘the spatial’ as a concept. There is a movement to view ‘space’ as something which is more than a pre-defined container of territorial politics; instead, as often the sphere of multiplicity, difference, affect and/or post-territorial interconnections. This brief paper talks about the “Space of Democracy and the Democracy of Space” global network, which seeks to explore how these new forces of interrogation into the spatial, materiality, political and ethical connectivity are having an influence upon how people perceive of and constitute new spaces of politics and democracy today.     

Development of the Natural Resources of the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies: Economic and Legal Aspects

The path of gradual commercialization of current space applications, such as launch services, satellite communication services, direct broadcasting services, satellite remote sensing and navigation services, and satellite weather monitoring services, will most likely be followed by future activities of use of space resources. Ventures, like mining the natural resources of the Moon and asteroids, are likely to become technologically feasible in the near future. The question is what would be the most appropriate approach to address the future needs of exploitation of space resources: should it remain the exclusive province of state governments; should the private sector take over such space activities; or should a public-private partnership type of venture be encouraged? As state governments are becoming constrained by budget deficits, an increased reliance on private sector involvement in space activities involving the extraction and use of space resources is to be expected. When deciding whether to invest in commercial ventures of resource use exploitation, any potential private investor will be faced with the issues of economic costs, risks, and perceived regulatory barriers. This study argues that the perceived regulatory barriers, i.e., the licensing requirement, the “common heritage of mankind” principle of international space law, and protection of intellectual property rights, are not obstacles to economic development. Governments should provide both policy and regulatory incentives for private sector participation in the area of space natural resource use by funding basic research and development and by sponsoring liability insurance for private ventures among other incentives.     

Stakeholder approach and the impact of brand image within higher education in the Middle East: Student and staff perspective

Higher education institutions should take into account the needs of stakeholders in the planning and development of quality educational services. In general, the stakeholders are divided into two categories: internal and external stakeholders. This study aims to explore the diverse basic needs of the university internal stakeholders (students, academic staff, and employees) and the impact of the services on the brand image of the educational institutions. Consensus has been built that an organization's image can only be or assessed by its stakeholders or constituents. Utilizing the qualitative approach through empirical semi‐structured interviews, data were collected from both Benghazi University in the country of Libya and Yarmouk University in the country of Jordan. To gain an in‐depth understating of the basic services, interviews were conducted with 41 university internal stakeholders (students, academic staff, and employees). The findings have a remarkable impact on the education services quality and the perception of brand image of both institutions, which subsequently affects the Libyan and Jordanian economy. The paper explores the differences between the needs of the three groups. This study is of value to educational leaders as it serves as contribution to the well designing of comprehensive plans of the university, by providing the decision makers with information on the needs of the university internal stakeholders. Managements can develop policies, which will improve the safety of customers and staff and increase collaborations with both universities stakeholders, etc. Accordingly, the results provide a foundation on which future research can be built.     

Policy sciences teaching in context: A note on Germany

This is an attempt to relate the specific opportunities for policy sciences teaching to the broader context of a changing policymaking system. In West Germany, policy-sciences teaching could not develop as long as legal education remained the predominant type of pre-entry training for the career civil service, and as long as constitutional and administrative law seemed to supply decision premises fully adequate for the types of policy problems that were regarded as critical. This pattern was functional as long as the basic conservatism of post-war policies did obscure the problem of policy choice and the need for policy analysis. It became dysfunctional, however, when the fiscal crisis of 1966/67 dramatized the need for a rationalization of budgetary choices, and when the urgency of new problems and new political demands exposed the insufficiency of conservative policies.These emerging demands on policymakers at all levels of government have led to an increasing awareness of the need for better policy-analysis and planning, and for the recruitment of personnel trained in policy sciences. While retraining programs will meet some of this demand, the growing number of planning staffs has created an opportunity for new policy-oriented programs of pre-entry training for civil service functions. The article concludes with the outline of one such program.     

Analytics and Beliefs: Competing Explanations for Defining Problems and Choosing Allies and Opponents in Collaborative Environmental Management

The rationale for collaborative environmental management often hinges on two factors: first, specialized training creates biased analytics that require multidisciplinary approaches to solve policy problems; second, normative beliefs among competing actors must be included in policy making to give the process legitimacy and to decide trans‐scientific problems. These two factors are tested as drivers of conflict in an analysis of 76 watershed partnerships. The authors find that analytical bias is a secondary factor to normative beliefs; that depicting the primary driver of conflict in collaborative environmental management as between experts and nonexperts is inaccurate; that compared to the “life” and “physical” sciences, the social sciences and liberal arts have a stronger impact on beliefs and choice of allies and opponents; and that multiple measures are needed to capture the effect of analytical biases. The essay offers lessons for public administrators and highlights the limitations and generalizations of other governing approaches.     

图书馆管理工作与创新服务

图书馆是进行思想道德教育,爱国主义传统教育的重要阵地。作为知识的收藏者、储存者、承载者、中转者和传播者,在当今知识就是力量的社会中起着举足轻重的作用。随着图书馆如雨后春笋般出现,图书馆的管理和服务事务变得越来越繁杂,科技日新月异,社会跨步向前,传统的图书馆管理和服务模式已经不能适应社会发展的需求,即满足不了现在人们对图书馆的需要;为了不断满足人们对图书馆的新要求,同时也是作为为思想教育和科研工作提供服务的信息机构,这就要充分利用现有的技术信息、图书、报刊资料等这一既有的优势,开展形式多样的管理和服务模式。在此,结合平时工作,对图书管理工作与创新服务谈几点体会。     

A doctoral program in the policy sciences

The complex nature of policy problems requires innovative approaches to problem analysis and a new social science interdiscipline focused on policy processes. The Policy Science Program at SUNY Buffalo is designed to advance this field and to train hybrid Ph.D.'s as research-scientists/practitioners. These new policy science professionals will augment policymaking organizations as policy analysts, evaluation researchers, knowledge brokers, research feedback disseminators, process monitors, and consultants. Their training must include research methodology, analytic approaches, orienting conceptual schemes from systems theory, social sciences, and specific problem domains, and operating skills. The curriculum includes both academic and field-training aspects.Though the program is oriented toward the applied sciences, it is an attempt to mold a version of the new combination of revised social science paradigms and analytic approaches identified by Dror as the Policy Sciences.     

Scaling up Utopias: E.O. Wright and the Search for Economic Alternatives

For over fifty years, successive waves of critique have underscored that the apolitical character of much of political science research betrays the founding mission of the discipline to have science serve democracy. The Caucus for a New Political Science was originally based on such a critique, and the perestroika movement in the discipline included a call for more problem-driven as opposed to theory- or method-driven work that would better connect political science research to ongoing political struggles. In recent years, movements for a public sociology and public anthropology as well as dissonant movements in economics and related fields have added to the insistence that social science research was too often disconnected from the real world. Phronetic social science has emerged out of the ferment for change in the social sciences, starting with the much-debated book by Bent Flyvbjerg, Making Social Science Matter (Cambridge, 2001). Flyvbjerg critiqued the social sciences for mimicking the natural sciences, while proposing an alternative approach that focuses research on helping people address the problems they are facing. Today, phronetic social science goes beyond the call for an alternative approach to social inquiry and its growing adherents are providing evidence that this alternative approach to doing research can enrich the social sciences by more effectively connecting research to efforts to address real world problems as people experience them. This article provides a genealogy of efforts to connect political science to politics, a review of the major critiques of mainstream research, an explication of the rationale for more problem-driven, mixed-methods research, a specification of the key principles of the phronetic approach, and examples of its application in the public realm. The article concludes with implications for realizing a more political political science by way of taking a phronetic approach.     

高职院校专业实践课教学与学生思想教育研究

针对高职学生在专业实践课中出现的兴趣不浓、成绩不良的现状进行分析和研究,采取"两手抓"的方法。一方面从学生的思想教育为出发点,在教育者与受教育者的和谐关系中引导学生热爱自己的专业,学好专业,培养学生的开拓意识。使学生有诚信品质、敬业精神和责任意识;另一方面以培养学生专业实践课学习兴趣为着落点,培养具备过硬专业技能的高素质技能人才,以适应在以后的就业中有机会不断拓展人生发展空间,既可以做能工巧匠,使之成为企业的中流砥柱,又可以随着社会经济结构的调整、市场的变化而随时随地地更换职业岗位,还可以自己开设店铺,实现自我价值,又给别人创造就业机会。     

Engineering the expansion of higher education: High skills,advanced manufacturing,and the knowledge economy

The article develops a framework to explain an empirical observation that runs counter received wisdom in comparative political economy, namely the co-existence of large higher education systems and thriving manufacturing sectors in advanced capitalist countries. Introducing the concept of skill breadth, the article hypothesizes that: (i) advanced manufacturing firms have narrow skill needs concentrated around STEM skills; (ii) these skills are likely to be under-supplied by the higher education system unless dedicated public policies are put in place; and (iii) governments intervene in higher education policy to ensure the availability of those skills that are crucial for firms located in key sectors of national knowledge economies. Cross-country survey data of employer preferences for higher education graduates and case studies of recent higher education policy change in Germany and South Korea provide strong support for the argument. The article advances our overall understanding of skill formation systems in the knowledge economy and testifies to the persistent presence of policy levers that governments can employ to manage the economy and to support domestic firms.     

大规模干部教育培训工作的实效性问题研究——以检察机关教育培训工作为视角

大规模培训干部、大幅度提高干部素质需要做到对症下药。当前,检验培训工作成效的衡量标准难于界定、现有干部教育培训制度规范相对滞后、干部多样化的培训需求得不到满足是制约干部教育培训工作科学发展的三大难点问题。解决这些问题,需要切实从干部教育培训的特殊矛盾入手,需要扭转传统培训体制单方面强调组织需求而忽视个人培训需求的局面,需要运用好计划与市场两种手段。     

Logics of interdisciplinarity

Abstract

This paper interrogates influential contemporary accounts of interdisciplinarity, in which it is portrayed as offering new ways of rendering science accountable to society and/or of forging closer relations between scientific research and innovation. The basis of the paper is an eighteen-month empirical study of three interdisciplinary fields that cross the boundaries between the natural sciences or engineering, on the one hand, and the social sciences or arts, on the other. The fields are: 1) environmental and climate change research, 2) ethnography in the IT industry and 3) art-science. In the first part of the paper, in contrast to existing accounts, we question the idea that interdisciplinarity should be understood in terms of the synthesis of two or more disciplines. We stress the forms of agonism and antagonism that often characterize relations between disciplinary and interdisciplinary research, and distinguish between three modes of interdisciplinarity. In the second part we outline three distinctive logics or rationales that guide interdisciplinary research. In addition to the logics of accountability and innovation, we identify the logic of ontology, that is, an orientation apparent in diverse interdisciplinary practices in each of our three fields towards effecting ontological transformation in the objects and relations of research. While the three logics are interdependent, they are not reducible to each other and are differently entangled in each of the fields. We point to the potential for invention in such interdisciplinary practices and, against the equation of disciplinary research with autonomy, to the possibility of forms of interdisciplinary autonomy.     

The Behavioral Public Administration Movement: A Critical Reflection

Proponents of the behavioral public administration movement call for greater use of theories from psychology and experimental research designs to improve the rigor of public administration research. We agree that the use of such theories and methods will provide much-needed reinforcements to public administration research, but the approach taken so far might be too narrow and might unnecessarily alienate scholars using other perspectives and research approaches. Reflecting on our own training and experiences, we suggest that adopting a more inclusive approach that employs insights and research tools not only from psychology but also from other disciplines will provide public administration scholars with a stronger footing in their efforts to generate actionable knowledge for public managers and policy makers. We also identify some key methodological issues that behavioral public administration scholars need to consider and address as the use of experiments becomes more common in public administration research. Finally, we encourage public administration scholars interested in behavioral research questions to do more to contribute to broader management and organizational behavior research.     

Prospects for Low-Income Mothers' Economic Survival Under Welfare Reform

This article discusses implications of data on the income andemployment patterns of welfare recipients for the types of programmaticand financial investments that states will need to make forsuccessful welfare reform. Research by the Institute for Women'sPolicy Research found that even before welfare reform, womenworked significant amounts of time and relied heavily on familysupports to survive, when possible. High school education andjob training are important predictors of having welfare andescaping poverty, while work experience alone has relativelylittle effect on leaving welfare. States will be challengedto provide these educational services within the restrictionson job training and education under the new welfare laws. Workingwelfare recipients in the institute's sample spent more thanone third of their income on child care, which speaks to theimportance of increased child-care subsidies for helping womenescape poverty. It is important for states and communities tomonitor the implementation of supportive services, track outcomesfor women who leave welfare, and improve work environments andemployment benefits.     

‘Activating’ those that ‘lag behind’: space-time politics in Dutch parenting training for migrants

Space and time (or rather space-time) are crucial concepts in the legitimation of policy interventions into citizens' private lives. Across Europe, social policy measures to promote ‘activation’ among migrant communities—employment guidance, parenting training, youth work and so on—have proliferated, aiming to ‘move’ the Other into the here-and-now of European modernity. Van den Berg brings together theories of space-time, alterity and ‘cultural lag logics’ in an analysis of a contemporary case of such a policy: parenting training in the Netherlands. Based on ethnographic research, her study shows how certain societal problems are translated into problems of difference, and how that difference is in turn conceptualized as distance in space and time to be overcome through professional intervention.     

论民警培训需求分析的运行机制建设

民警培训需求分析是生成民警培训计划的前提和基础,它对实现培训价值和教育训练民主,提高民警培训质量具有重要意义。民警培训包括干部培训和警察职业教育活动,开展培训需求分析应兼顾公安队伍建设、公安机关履职能力提升和民警个人职业发展的需要,从需求分析目标、组织机构、分析方法、反馈机制等方面探索需求分析的运行机制,实现需求分析的常态化、规范化。     

Core Concepts and Key Ideas for Understanding Public Sector Organizational Networks: Using Research to Inform Scholarship and Practice

This article provides an overview of the key research findings and core concepts on the topic of organizational networks. The primary focus is on goal‐directed “whole” service delivery networks, which are prevalent in the public and nonprofit sectors. The findings and ideas presented are especially salient for helping public managers build, maintain, operate, and govern multiorganizational networks in ways that will enhance their effectiveness. Because research and theory on networks extend well beyond the boundaries of public management and administration, the authors draw on thinking from a number of fields, providing a broad understanding of public networks and network functioning. The article is intended to provide usable information on networks for both practitioners and students, as well as to suggest directions for future research for the many public management scholars who now study organizational networks.     

US Science Education: The View from a Practicing Scientist

Science and mathematics education in the US is failing to produce an adequate number of American scientists. Foreign postdoctoral fellows and students who typically remain in the US and become permanent residents and citizens increasingly populate US research laboratories. Were these foreign scientists to return home upon completion of their training, we would be facing a severe shortage of well‐trained research personnel in US laboratories. The contributions of foreign scientists to US scientific research have been important and impressive, but as noted above, there are dangers in relying on other countries to provide the basic education of scientists to fill our US laboratories.