The university and the human sciences

The current malaise affecting the university in general and the human sciences in particular has a deeper origin than is usually recognized. It has to do with the gap between science and culture, between the scientific way of dealing with things and the ordinary-lifeway of dealing with them. The more the university is seen as the bastion of science, the less those sciences, which traditionally deal with human affairs as seen from the ordinary, common sense point of view, are taken seriously. It is particularly the Geisteswissenschaften which are de facto depreciated. The usual reaction is an attempt to ever more professionalism and methodological rigidity also in these sciences. This leads to disastrous consequences both for the Geisteswissenschaften and for the university as a whole. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

About pigs?: Decisions,outcomes and project planning

At the heart of a misleading conceptualisation of policy practice is what we refer to as the ‘common-sense’, ‘mainstream’ or ‘linear’ model of public policy. This model represents public policy as a dichotomous linear process, of two distinct but sequential phases. The process begins with a decision or a sequence of activities which culminate in a decision. The decision also constitutes a ‘policy’. Then there is a break. On the other side of the divide is ‘policy implementation’ … the unthinking acceptance of the mainstream model in policy analysis has … important and dangeous consequences (Clay and Schaffer, 1985, p.3).     

Trends in policy sciences research: determinants and developments

Abstract. The policy sciences have been evolving as a discipline over the past thirty years, but the development has been less than clear, its directions somewhat uncertain. Still, the founding characteristics, as set forth by its early proponents, have remained relevant and relatively constant. The policy sciences have been defined by their multidisciplinary perspective, their problem-oriented, contextual approach, and their treatment of normative standards. This paper reviews the development of the policy sciences in light of these three hallmarks and observes how each has experienced great variations. Finally, the paper suggests six emerging conditions which could have a significant effect on the future development and practice of the policy sciences.     

Hooliganism under the Statistical Magnifying Glass: A Belgian Case Study

In Belgium the most important football matches are statistically recorded. Therefore this case is presented to demonstrate what can be learnt from statistics and other qualitative information in order to assess hooliganism: the number of hardcore elements, their size, their maximum capacity for mobilisation, the age groups involved, the degree of activism, the number and characteristics of the incidents involved, links with political crime and/or extremism, relationships and/or rivalries with other hardcore elements, the size of the police resources deployed in order to tackle them, and the impact of certain measures in the fight against hooliganism. A number of the characteristics of the phenomenon of hooliganism (renewal, adaptation and international relationships, in particular) mean that one has to go beyond the pure and simple canvas of a questionnaire with a statistical vocation. It is for this reason that the statistical information in Belgium has, from the very start (the 1991-1992 season) been backed up by telephone interviews with special witnesses from various Belgian hardcore elements.