The Role of Policy Labs in Policy Experiment and Knowledge Transfer: A Comparison across the UK,Denmark, and Singapore

Abstract

Policy labs have been increasingly used to generate scientific evidence and political momentum to boost policy experiments, but our understanding of the conditions for knowledge creation and transfer through policy experiments in the labs is scarce. This paper compares the UK’s Cabinet Office’s Behavioral Insights Team (BIT), Denmark’s the Danish MindLab, and Singapore’s the Human Experience Lab (THE Lab) to identify their similarities and differences in fostering policy experiment and knowledge transfer. It is found that BIT as the “Nudge Unit” is keen on bringing in rigorous scientific evidence to advocate effective albeit controversial policies, critical to its survival and influence in an adversarial political circumstance. MindLab takes more initiative to co-create and run projects together with agencies and organizations. THE Lab is dedicated to gleaning ethnographic insights from various stakeholders to support design thinking in policy implementation. These discernable differences can be attributed to their different political regimes and policy environments, which suggest workable avenues for policy labs in other countries.     

直面实践、知识生产对比与本土管理创新理论生成研究

学界正在对中国本土管理理论体系进行热议,而这种探讨还要建立在管理理论知识生产的探讨之后。基于此,通过直面管理的实践特性,追问管理学研究的本质,在管理理论知识生产类型的对比中,具体说是在管理理论知识生产层面深化探讨“管理经验说”“管理诠释论”与“管理构建说”,尤其要引入知识生产类型视角对其进行对比分析。其结论是“管理诠释论”这种知识生产进路在传统管理理论和管理思想史研究中有不可忽视的定位,其在现代管理理论知识生产导向管理科学化研究进路后被忽视,文章对此进行了深入揭示与论辩,也论证了其在面向未来直面实践的管理理论知识生产中仍有其不可代替的作用。为此凝聚了一个核心观点：管理诠释论也推动着管理理论知识生产。直面实践的中国管理理论研究需要在管理理论知识生产方式上进行融合,这将更有助于中国本土管理创新理论研究。     

International Co‐Authorship and Research Team Performance in Colombia

This article examines the ways in which International Scientific Collaboration, as observed by the co‐authorship of journal articles written by local scientists and partners located overseas, affects the ability of research teams to produce bibliographic outputs and to contribute to local knowledge. A sample of 672 teams was randomly selected for the analyses. In addition, 20 interviews with experts and team members were administered to discuss models and results. Results show that co‐authoring with partners located overseas increases team output by nearly 40% and by between three and five bibliographic products. It also shows that a team's odds of involving Colombia in its research process are 2.2 times larger for those co‐authoring with a partner located overseas than for those that do not. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

The archive and community system for preserving traditional culture in rural areas

Rural areas in Japan are facing many problems such as aging, depopulation. Japanese traditional cultures in rural areas will be lost because of their flame keeper shortages. Rural residents and researchers take the problem seriously and are trying to archive all of them. In this study, we focused on their archiving activities and designed the web-based digital archiving system, which encourage the process of creating the virtual community that enhances the discussion and communication based on the traditional cultures. Furthermore, we researched the effects on rural community formation by their activities in rural area. In conclusion, we understood the trigger to lead rural areas to revitalize through the archiving activity.     

英美文化背景知识与英语听力教学

英美文化背景知识的缺乏、思维方式的差异是影响中国学生英语听力理解能力提高的主要原因,因此,听力教学中注重文化背景知识的传授是相当重要的。本文着重讨论了听力理解与文化背景知识之间的关系,阐明了学生缺乏背景知识对于听力理解的影响,并提出了在听力教学中传授英美文化背景知识的几种方法。     

传统知识的资源价值及其法律保护——以侗族鼓楼为例

传统知识是基于传统之上的创新与创造,是一种有着巨大开发潜能的文化资源,在市场经济格局下,要充分认识传统知识的资源价值,重视从法律层面上保护传统知识,保障传统知识的主体的精神权益和经济权益,建立对传统知识的法律保护模式。     

构建人与自然的和谐:传统生态学知识的价值

生物多样性与文化多样性之间的复合关系,表现在相互作用的过程中,二者相互作用的履历,就是生态史。从民族生态史的角度研究环境的保全,是一个非常值得重视的课题。传统的生态学知识(TEK)能保持民族群体与生态环境之间的平衡,它构建出社区民众生产生活必须共同遵守的千古规则和价值理念,是民族文化多样性的核心组成部分,生物多样性的存在与其分不开。构建人与自然的和谐,必须发挥传统生态学的作用,实现其与现代生态学的携手共进。     

现行专利法对我国少数民族传统知识的保护——论我国少数民族传统知识的在先技术化

由于各国在先技术认定规则的差异,传统知识的在先技术地位具有不确定性。传统知识的在先技术地位在美国专利法上存在障碍。按美国专利法模式把我国少数民族传统知识在先技术化,可以保护传统知识的消极知识产权利益。但我国少数民族传统知识的在先技术化也存在一些问题,如该种保护是一种最低水平的保护等。解决这些问题,应采取有关措施如我国少数民族传统知识在先技术化时做出知识产权权利保留等。     

The Salience of Race

While the salience of race is rising in public discourse, the dominant knowledge structure in international studies has deflected this issue. A look at curriculum and research programs suggests that the transnational dimensions of race are sidelined. The core concept of state sovereignty rarely opens to questions of race. Yet there is a longstanding tradition in transnational race relations, including substantial literature and university initiatives. These have had a tangible impact on the activities of international organizations. To restart such efforts in ways appropriate for our times, it is suggested that six sets of interaction between globalization and race could form the core of a curriculum and research program. This foundation provides the basis for explaining how the politics of "we" and "they," friends and enemies, operates in racializing questions of identity, especially after 9/11, when inclusion and exclusion are increasingly securitized.     

The partisan heuristic and the voters’ knowledge: The essential role of the information environment

The low-information rationality theory expects voters with low political knowledge to make more use of the partisan heuristic than those with high knowledge. However, empirical studies on decision making in direct democracy observe a positive correlation between political knowledge and the use of party cues. We resolve this tension between theory and empirical evidence by demonstrating that the relationship between political knowledge and the use of party cues is conditional on the information environment. We provide evidence for this hypothesis by exploiting a natural experiment in Switzerland and analyze a large variety of direct democratic votes. The results show that voters with lower levels of political knowledge tend to align less with their preferred party because they often have a wrong perception of their preferred party’s vote recommendation. However, if information on parties’ position is easily available, their vote choice is at least as much in line with their preferred party as among those with high knowledge. This suggests that in such an information environment voters with low political knowledge strongly rely on the partisan heuristic. Our research note supports the low-information rationality theory and this way contributes to the literature on the quality of political opinion formation and the political psychology of reasoning and decision making.