The Greek General Election of 2009: PASOK – The Third Generation

The policy networks model recently has become a more frequent analytical tool of EU policy analysts. In a recent article, Hussein Kassim offers a sceptical view about its applicability to the EU. Kassim fails to make explicit the key variables — or internal characteristics of policy networks ‐ which help to explain policy outcomes. However, his own analysis echoes many of the assumptions of the model: that policy networks are rife in the EU because they facilitate informal bargaining amid fluid policy processes, that networks provide order amid extreme institutional complexity and frequent change, and that the hard work involved in identifying EU policy networks is worth the effort. The policy networks model requires further testing and refinement at the EU level, but it remains the most analytically powerful approach on offer.     

Winning by Co-Opeting in Strategic Government-University-Industry R&D Partnerships: The Power of Complex, Dynamic Knowledge Networks

There is increasing consensus among academic scholars, policy makers, and industry practitioners alike that the present and future secret of business survival and prosperity lies in strategic partnering and co-opeting successfully rather than outright competition. This is particularly so in knowledge-intensive, highly complex, and dynamic environments such as all high technology industries (semiconductors, aerospace, software, telecommunications, etc.), where collaborating to compete in knowledge generation and exchange has become so pervasive it is often hard to notice having become the standard modus operandi (from cross-licensing agreements to strategic complementarity in products and services). For example, witness the case of the Microsoft/Intel collaboration or “Wintel” alliance. We propose a dynamic, learning-driven framework which uses the game theoretic perspective, drawing principally from the notion of “co-opetition” (coined by Ray Noorda, former CEO of Novell, and developed by Brandenburger and Nalebuff [1996]), to examine how a knowledge generating and leveraging value-maximizing organization (not just a for-profit firm), should position itself in relation to the range of players with whom the organization interacts (in terms of market relationships, generating and pooling of strategic knowledge assets including intellectual property rights and human capital, and other dimensions) to maximize shareholder value in the long term. Select case studies focusing on government-university-industry strategic partnerships for research and technological development (GUISP RTDs), such as the NSF Engineering Research Centers, provide empirical validation of our concepts and especially on how to architect intelligent organizational interfaces across the spectrum of strategic R&D collaborations.     

Drug Treatment Policy in the Criminal Justice System: A Scoping Literature Review

This scoping review sought to map the emerging evidence on use of harm minimization drug treatment programs in criminal justice settings. A search of various data bases including Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews Medline, ProQuest, SAGE Premier, Scopus, Taylor & Francis Online, and Web of Science yielded eight studies that met inclusion criteria. The available evidence suggests increasing adoption of harm minimization policy oriented programs by countries around the world. Specific programs adopted include needle and syringe exchange, methadone maintenance, buprenorphine maintenance and treatment in lieu of incarceration. Each of these programs has evidence to support their effectiveness in relation to individual harm reduction, disease reduction, increase treatment retention and reduced criminality. This article considers implications of the adoption of harm minimization policies by criminal justice systems.     

Global knowledge intensive enterprises and international technology transfer: emerging perspectives from a quadruple helix environment

Management scholars have widely acknowledged that we live a new era of economic development, the so-called knowledge economy, where knowledge appears to be the key foundation of value creation. During the recent years, it seems like knowledge has become an all-embracing term that has come to stand for all the magic that goes on within contemporary organizations, making them successful. Knowledge is then an immaterial and ubiquitous asset, embodied into individuals and embedded in their routines and artefacts. From this shadowy asset arises the main research purpose of several management scholars: to ascertain the underlying organizational alchemy and the mystery of knowledge. In the managerial literature, when knowledge comes so deeply incorporated within a firm this has been usually reflected in a widely used concept: the knowledge-intensive enterprise, a term that has received significant attention from scholars and researchers, now expressing a category of organizations within academic scientific research. Likewise, a growing debate is emerging among policy makers and scholars in technology transfer processes and tools for KIEs worldwide.     

Platforms for institutional change: assessing the potential of livelihood enhancement groups as community entry points in Zambia

To address the livelihood problems faced by the poor and vulnerable in Northern Province of Zambia, a novel collective action approach called livelihoods enhancement groups (LEGs) was used as a platform for facilitating research on development initiatives to generate change. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews, this article assesses the potential of using the LEGs approach in generating change. The livelihood changes observed arose with the LEG as a platform through which different knowledge nodes interacted. Livelihood areas that LEGs affected included crop production, livestock production, nutrition, and access to credit.     

Japan’s Shifting Military Priorities: Counterbalancing China’s Rise

This article analyzes the most recent phase of Japan’s security policy reform, focusing on its shifting priorities towards the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the Japan–US alliance since mid-2010. From a realist perspective, it argues that these shifting military priorities first and foremost represent a traditional counterbalancing response to China’s rise. Conforming to the logic inherent in balance of threat theory, it moreover argues that this balancing behavior is explained by a confluence of two primary factors, namely Japanese perceptions of aggressive Chinese behavior in the maritime domain and concerns relating to the changing distribution of capabilities in China’s favor.     

Big expectations, small outcomes: The impact of leaders' personal appeal in the 2004 Greek election

The 2004 Greek election provides an interesting case study for examining the impact of party leaders on the vote. A change in governing party leadership a few months before polling day had two important implications. First, it generated a highly favourable context for the emergence of decisive leadership effects. Second, it made it feasible to grasp empirically how voters form their evaluations of new leaders. Regarding the first question, the findings indicate that even in the most favourable environment the impact of leadership evaluations on the overall electoral outcome is only slight. Regarding the second, it seems that the change of leader at the start of an election campaign can be a mixed blessing. Whereas it can help a party to divert media and public focus from other less favourable issues, the party pays a corresponding price when its new leader has to learn the job in the full glare of an election campaign.