What Not to Worry About in the Policy–Academy Gap Debate: A Contrarian Take

This assessment of the “policy-academy” gap is part of a special forum stimulated by Michael Desch’s book, Cult of the Irrelevant. Those who write about the academy–policy gap worry that the gap is too narrow, resulting in ethical compromise, or too wide, resulting in marginalization of key academic voices. I argue both concerns are overdrawn. In particular, I argue that there is a healthy exchange between academic specialists and the policy community, at least as healthy as any during a mythical golden era. Moreover, quantitative methods are not a bogeyman exacerbating the gap; high-quality quantitative scholarship can make important contributions. Finally, claims that academic realists face unfair disadvantages in contributing to policy are not well-supported by the evidence. In truth, there is a fairly healthy marketplace of ideas in the policy community, at least as healthy as what prevails in the academy.

Building on momentum from the global campaigns: an exploration of factors that influenced prioritization of stillbirth prevention at the national level in Uganda

Background Of the close to 2.6 million stillbirths that happen annually, most are from low-income countries where until recently policies rarely paid special attention to addressing them. The global campaigns that followed called on countries to implement strategies addressing stillbirths and the adoption of recommendations varied according to contexts. This study explored factors that influenced the prioritization of stillbirth reduction in Uganda. Methods The study employed an exploratory qualitative design adopting Shiffman’s framework for political prioritization. Data collection methods included a document review and key informants’ interviews with a purposively selected sample of 20 participants from the policy community. Atlas. Ti software was used for data management while thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the findings. Findings Political prioritization of stillbirth interventions gained momentum following norm promotion from the global campaigns which peaked during the 2011 Lancet stillbirth series. This was followed by funding and technical support of various projects in Uganda. A combination of domestic advocacy factors such as a cohesive policy community converging around the Maternal and Child Health cluster accelerated the process by vetting the evidence and refining recommendations to support the adoption of the policy. The government’s health systems strengthening aspirations and integration of interventions to address stillbirths within the overall Maternal and Child Health programming resonated well. Conclusions The transnational influence played a key role during the initial stages of raising attention to the problem and provision of technical and financial support. The success and subsequent processes, however, relied heavily on domestic advocacy and the national political environment, and the cohesive policy community.

ASSESSING UNITED STATES GRAND STRATEGY: ESTIMATING THE PATTERN OF UNITED STATES FOREIGN POLICY ON SOUTHEAST ASIA UNDER THE BIDEN PRESIDENCY

Assessing United States (U.S.) past grand strategy is a useful guide to gauge foreign policy intentions enabling us to gain vital insights to discern the broad pattern of U.S. foreign policy under various administrations. Such an approach can be of benefit to the academic and policy community giving us a sense of the priorities of the foreign policy priorities of the Biden administration particularly with respect to the security of Southeast Asia. With this aim in mind, our article employs a variation of the analytical framework employed in the field of foreign policy evaluation to examine the possible options for U.S. Grand Strategy. At the risk of oversimplification, it selects and assesses four samples of U.S. Grand Strategy alternatives: isolationism, offshore balancing, selective engagement, and deep engagement. Next we focus on recent events to assess which pattern of Grand Strategy best describes the Biden administration�s foreign policy stance. Our aim is that these insights will help regional actors to anticipate and respond accordingly to the Biden administration�s foreign policy stance.

Re-Shaping the Policy Landscape in Scottish Education, 2016-20: The Limitations of Structural Reform

This paper examines the establishment and operation of a number of new bodies – variously called councils, boards, collaboratives, groups, forums and panels – concerned with the development of Scottish education. What were the intentions behind their creation during the period 2016-20? Do they amount to a significant reshaping of the policy community, making it more open and democratic, and representing a genuine re-distribution of power, or are they more concerned with public presentation and political positioning? The paper is based mainly, but not exclusively, on publicly available minutes and related papers produced by the various bodies. These allow for an analysis of their composition and remits, as well as an examination of the substantive issues they have considered. The discussion also takes account of earlier descriptions of the character of the policy community, as well as hopes that the creation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 would lead to greater transparency and accountability in political decision-making. It is argued that, while the new bodies provide opportunities for some previously marginalised voices to be heard, they demonstrate the continuing potency of familiar forms of bureaucratic management and professional protectionism. The paper also indicates a number of areas where further research would deepen understanding of the politics of Scottish education.

Introduction to the themed section: law, harm and depletion through social reproduction

In this article, we outline an interdisciplinary exploration into the invisibilisation of social reproduction, most of which still continues to be done by women. In this introduction and themed section, we argue that the neglect of social reproduction has material costs for those responsible for it, which we theorise as ‘depletion through social reproduction’ (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="CIT0031">Rai et al, 2014</xref>) – and these costs are gendered. As a facet of governing processes, the law is important here. In this themed section, we examine the issue of law, harm and depletion through social reproduction to show how different strategies are already being used by individuals, households and communities to mitigate depletion and how this is being addressed (or not) at the policy and legal levels – local, national and international. To explore this issue, we have brought together sociologists, political economists and lawyers to develop insights that can be of value to political scientists and to the policy community.

Culture of sustainable development as one of the elements of development of the economic, social and security field of the modern society

The article may be of interest to representatives of civil servants of the ministries of infrastructure, economy, social policy, community development, and so forth, sustainable development researchers, volunteers of various environmental, social and other associations, etc. The research examines the concept of sustainable development, its origins, and some documents in this field. It also sets out standards and principles for building sustainable cities, relevant indexes comparing different cities in the world for sustainability criteria, and their results. It is provided which Ukrainian projects have been implemented in this direction and which are planned. Successful activity of Ukrainian green startups has been investigated as well.