The Political Epistemology of Science-Based Policy-Making

Improving the use and impact of science-based policies and practices at the national and transnational level is important for enhancing the quality and legitimacy of democratic governance systems. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the major drivers behind strengthening the creation, application and mediation of scientific expertise for policy-making. Science-based policy-making can take different forms, such as evaluation of practices, implementation of independent or commissioned research, application of quantitative and qualitative analyses, or the development of statistical and environmental monitoring systems. However, scientific evidence is only one among several factors contributing to sound democratic decisions. Scientific expertise needs to be mediated through a complex process of social and political deliberation. The paper aims to identify the main policy challenges behind science advisory bodies and to set out an agenda for rebuilding public trust in science-based policy-making.     

The Making of Empirical Political Science in the UK: Jean Blondel,David Butler and Peter Pulzer

During the winter of 2022–3, three of the most influential individuals in the development of empirical political science in Europe, died. All had been active in research between at least the early 1960s and the present century. David Butler had pioneered, especially, the study of electoral behaviour and particularly in the UK. Jean Blondel had founded the outstanding Department of Government at Essex University and he was one of the principal academics responsible for the creation and subsequent flourishing of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Peter Pulzer not only published important comparative work on European politics, but he also supervised doctoral theses on topics beyond Europe's own borders. This essay discusses their respective roles and contributions in the founding of a discipline that was only newly forming when they started their own research during the 1950s.     

Stability,Crisis and Breakdown: Some Notes on the Concept of Crisis in Political Analysis*

The argument of the paper is that political science would benefit from clarification of the concept ‘crisis’. and that this clarification should be related to neighbouring concepts such as ‘stability’ and ‘breakdown’. It is suggested that the stability of a political regime is demonstrated by its ability to avoid transformation as well as breakdown at times of crisis when the continuity of the regime's identifying characteristics is threatened.     

The Political Ecology of Austerity: An Analysis of Socio-environmental Conflict under Crisis in Greece*

The paper focuses on two largely understudied and interrelated aspects of the post-2008 economic crisis: how the politics of austerity influences the dynamics of environmental conflict and how the environment is mobilized in subaltern struggles against the normalization of austerity as the hegemonic response to crisis. We ground our analysis on two grassroots conflicts in Greece: the “no-middlemen” solidarity food distribution networks (across Greece) and the movement against gold mining in Halkidiki (northern Greece). Using a Gramscian political ecology framework, our analysis shows that by reciprocally combining anti-austerity politics and alternative ways of understanding and using “nature,” both projects challenge the reproduction of uneven society–environment relations exacerbated by the neoliberal austerity agenda.     

Grey Power: Towards a Political Economy of Older Voters in the UK

The impact of age on voting behaviour and political outcomes has become an issue of increasing interest, particularly in the UK. Age divides in voter turnout and political preferences have led to claims that age is the ‘new class’. In this article, we contrast existing ‘cultural backlash’ and political economy explanations of the age divide in politics, and challenge the view that older people are predominantly ‘left behind’, culturally or economically. We show that older people have distinct material interests, related to housing wealth and pensions’ income, that are visible in their political preferences. We argue for the development of a new political economy of age.     

The Making of a European Public Sphere: Media Discourse and Political Contention

Territorial autonomy is one aspect of power-sharing in multi-ethnic societies. Nevertheless, the multi-ethnic countries of Central and Eastern Europe are still among the most centralised in the European Union. This article analyses the failure of any attempts to establish (symmetric) federalism or (asymmetric) autonomy, creating self-governed regions by the Hungarian minorities in Romania and Slovakia. The analysis focuses on the positions of the main parties of the ethnic majorities and the Hungarian minority parties in the two countries. In both cases, the parties representing the Hungarian minorities have favoured territorial autonomy along ethnic lines, but this demand has been rejected by the parties of the ethnic majority. Against the historical legacy of unstable borders, the parties of the ethnic majority argue that territorial autonomy or federalisation might be a first step for a revisionist agenda and separatism. Instead, supported by the European integration, the parties have been able to agree on decentralisation as a half-hearted compromise.     

Multilateral CBMs on the Korean Peninsula: Making a virtue out of necessity

Abstract

As its economy has become near to collapse, North Korea has tried to avoid direct contacts with South Korea because of the ‘absorption phobia’. Instead, the North has made continuous efforts to improve its relations only with the United States, seeking a guarantee for its survival. Given this circumstance, this paper argues that useful multilateral approaches such as KEDO and Four‐Party Talks will contribute to improving inter‐Korean relations. Thus, it would be sensible to explore every possible way (even through multilateral mechanisms) until both Koreas make a breakthrough for the deadlocked inter‐Korean CBMs. But the multilateral CBMs constitute a transitional and complementary role as South and North Korea should be primarily responsible for addressing major problems such as reunification. Among the multilateral approaches, the Four‐Party Talks will be a most useful mechanism which will enable the two Koreas to resume dialogue for the peace and reunification on the Korean Peninsula. In this peace process, more positive roles of major powers are also requested.     

现代哲学的危机与出路——维特根斯坦关于哲学与科学的关系思想述论

现代哲学的危机主要表现为科学的大一统以及由此而来的思想对自身的曲解。身处危机的现当代哲学家们做出了不同的反应,提出了各自的拯救方案。维特根斯坦的与众不同之处在于通过前期对哲学与科学的划界和后期哲学不必成为科学的分析,既没有得出哲学必然是科学的结论,也不主张逃避到非理性的领域,更不满永远徘徊于哲学的混乱。他虽没有完成拯救哲学的任务,却为我们走出危机指出了一个新方向:哲学可以像科学那样关注现实但不必成为科学,哲学必须回归生活但不应成为常识。     

The Biopolitics of Policy-Making: Medical Activism in the Century of the Brain

This article argues that advances in biotechnology and the life sciences, particularly the ongoing neuro-revolution, have changed the relationship between science and politics. Since the “Decade of the Brain” project of the 1990s, new neuroscientific terms and biological understandings of the self have given rise to what Paul Rabinow refers to as “biosociality,” that is, groups that organize around, and identify with, a specific disease or disability to lobby for recognition, better treatment options, access to resources, and, in some cases, equal rights. This biopolitical relationship between citizens and scientific experts in the policy-making process can be seen in the current debate between the neurodiversity movement and anti-autism groups over the needs of autistic people. However, this article shows that within policy discussions, both groups have been (re)constructed by competing medical discourses and illness narratives in a way that has limited their ability to voice their needs and effectively evoke policy change.     

The Political Costs of Crisis Bargaining: Presidential Rhetoric and the Role of Party

We analyze the first large‐scale, randomized experiment to measure presidential approval levels at all outcomes of a canonical international crisis‐bargaining model, thereby avoiding problems of strategic selection in evaluating presidential incentives. We find support for several assumptions made in the crisis‐bargaining literature, including that a concession from a foreign state leads to higher approval levels than other outcomes, that the magnitudes of audience costs are under presidential control prior to the initiation of hostilities, and that these costs can be made so large that presidents have incentive to fight wars they will not win. Thus, the credibility of democratic threats can be made extremely high. We also find, however, that partisan cues strongly condition presidential incentives. Party elites have incentives to behave according to type in Congress and contrary to type in the Oval Office, and Democratic presidents sometimes have incentives to fight wars they will not win.     

Economic Crisis and Institutional Resilience: The Political Economy of Migrant Incorporation

This article focuses on the situation of migrants and their descendants in European labour markets. This important socioeconomic dimension of the current crisis illuminates the role of pre-existing policies and institutions and points the way to political solutions. The article begins with a comparative puzzle: how can one account for cross-national, cross-local, and cross-sectoral variation in the labour market outcomes of migrant-origin minority groups and explain migrant-origin and gender differences. This is followed by a critical examination of debates on the ‘integration’ of migrants and the ‘second generation’ reflecting political diatribes on the across-the-board poor performance of minorities and the role of ethnic or religious factors. An alternative explanation underscores the importance of policy paradigms and institutional hurdles focusing on three aspects of European political economies: welfare state arrangements, education, and sub-national labour market policies. The arguments put forth rely on comparative aggregate data and surveys in countries representative of ideal types according to the original version of the varieties of capitalism, worlds of welfare, and integration models literature, in particular France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.     

对公共政策制定的政治哲学思考

公共政策制定是社会政治生活中公共决策系统的经常性活动。在现代社会,由于公共政策的巨大作用和影响,公共政策制定问题引起了广泛的关注。从政治哲学的角度审视,以公意为价值取向、以政治权力为基本依托,以政治秩序为最终归宿,才能建立起人民期待的合理、公正、有效的公共政策,从而进一步推进决策的科学化、民主化。     

Governing Under Pressure: German Policy Making During the Coronavirus Crisis

The global threat of the coronavirus pandemic has forced policy makers to react quickly with totally new policy-making approaches under conditions of uncertainty. This article focuses on such crisis-driven policy learning, examining how the experiences of China and South Korea as early responder states influenced the subsequent coronavirus crisis management in Germany. The first reaction of the German core executive was the quick concentration of decision-making power at the top of the political hierarchy. Asserting the prerogatives of the executive included the radical simplification of the relationship between politics, law and science. State actors took emergency measures by recourse to a single piece of legislation—the ‘infection protection law’ (Infektionsschutzgesetz)—overriding other elements of the legal order. They also limited the government’s use of scientific expertise to a small number of advisors, thereby cutting short debates about the appropriateness or otherwise of the government’s crisis measures. Finally, German actors failed to understand that some of the earlier Chinese and Korean responses required a precondition—namely public willingness to sacrifice privacy for public health—that is absent in the German case.