Reconfiguring the Public Sciences
Reconfiguring the Public Sciences
The Impact of Governance Changes on Authority and Innovation in Public Science Systems
This chapter suggests how the major changes that have taken place in the organization and direction of the public science system (PSS) since the end of the Second World War have altered authority relationships governing research priorities and the assessment of results in different kinds of PSS, and how these shifts in authority have had varying effects on intellectual innovation and integration. It first summarizes the key differences between six ideal types of PSS in terms of the relative authority of the state, intellectual elites, and employers in guiding intellectual goals and evaluating approaches. Second, it outlines how the six shifts in governance of public science systems have affected the authority of six different groups and organizations over research activities. Next, it suggests how these changes in the relative authority of different groups and agencies can be expected to influence patterns of intellectual coordination and innovation in the public sciences in general. Finally, the chapter examines how these connections between changes in authority and the generation and selection of intellectual innovations in different societies are likely to be affected by the key features of the six different kinds of PSS. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.
Keywords: public science system, governance, public services, government authority, research priorities, intellectual innovations
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