Social science and the modern state: policy knowledge and political institutions in Western Europe and the United States

Author(s):  
Björn Wittrock ◽  
Peter Wagner ◽  
Hellmut Wollmann
2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Story

The lack of autonomy of Western European states, that is, the limitations which they confront in terms of translating their policy preferences into authoritative actions, cannot be considered solely in terms of idiosyncratic domestic political institutions and cultures, or as the result of greater sensibility and vulnerability to interdependence through the flow of goods, capital and technology. The argument develops around the generalisation that during the period of "détente" from 1965 to 1979, the United States, as the world central bank, inflated the world political economy ; thereafter, the questioning of détente accompanied a United States-led policy of world deflation. European politics, in a variety of intricate ways, followed the rythm set by the United States, with a period of state policy activism in the late 1960s to mid-1970s followed by more sceptical attitudes by public officials, supported by conservative or liberal parties, on the limitations of state action. But while it could be argued that the autonomy of OECD European states was strictly limited in economic policy by the integration of national into European and world markets, it is also demonstratable that the most sensitive of these markets - the world financial markets - are most susceptible to state policy, particularly that of the United States. In turn, the influence exerted on government preferences by world financial markets has grown to such an extent that by 1983, Western European governments are all aligning priorities on what are taken to be market criteria. If fact, they are aligning their priorities on the preferences of the great powers in a period of heightened international tension. Thus, the lack of autonomy of Western European states is of political origin: their subordination through lack of continued regional autonomy in defense and finance. Implicitly, this article suggests a move in Western Europe to a confederal armed force and a European Reserve Bank, as the precondition for a revitalised Atlantic alliance.


1911 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
George W. Ellis

Liberia will long be a source of permanent interest to the government and people of the United States, not only because it was founded and fostered by American citizens, but because there is going on there in the interest of the African races one of the unique struggles in modern state-building, in an endeavor to perpetuate in West Africa a government fashioned after the American democracy in which liberty shall be limited and regulated by law.Under the most unfavorable circumstances the Liberian people have entered upon a grave and stupendous undertaking. The high political ideas and principles which they represent, the ardor and fidelity with which they have maintained them for nearly three quarters of a century against European opposition and in the midst and in the presence of the overwhelming numbers and dissimilar civilization of their African kinsmen, entitle them to the sympathetic consideration and good will of all liberty-loving nations.


Contexts ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold L. Wilensky

Although America leads the world in conducting social scientific evaluations of public policies, in the end, social science contributes less to policymaking here than it does in most of Western Europe and Japan. Instead, our research has little bearing on whether a government program lives or dies. Intellectuals typically have tense relationships with men and women of power, but the disconnect between research and policy is most extreme in the United States.


1991 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-217
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood

Foreign aid has been the subject of much examination and research ever since it entered the economic armamentarium approximately 45 years ago. This was the time when the Second World War had successfully ended for the Allies in the defeat of Germany and Japan. However, a new enemy, the Soviet Union, had materialized at the end of the conflict. To counter the threat from the East, the United States undertook the implementation of the Marshal Plan, which was extremely successful in rebuilding and revitalizing a shattered Western Europe. Aid had made its impact. The book under review is by three well-known economists and is the outcome of a study sponsored by the Department of State and the United States Agency for International Development. The major objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of assistance, i.e., aid, on economic development. This evaluation however, was to be based on the existing literature on the subject. The book has five major parts: Part One deals with development thought and development assistance; Part Two looks at the relationship between donors and recipients; Part Three evaluates the use of aid by sector; Part Four presents country case-studies; and Part Five synthesizes the lessons from development assistance. Part One of the book is very informative in that it summarises very concisely the theoretical underpinnings of the aid process. In the beginning, aid was thought to be the answer to underdevelopment which could be achieved by a transfer of capital from the rich to the poor. This approach, however, did not succeed as it was simplistic. Capital transfers were not sufficient in themselves to bring about development, as research in this area came to reveal. The development process is a complicated one, with inputs from all sectors of the economy. Thus, it came to be recognized that factors such as low literacy rates, poor health facilities, and lack of social infrastructure are also responsible for economic backwardness. Part One of the book, therefore, sums up appropriately the various trends in development thought. This is important because the book deals primarily with the issue of the effectiveness of aid as a catalyst to further economic development.


2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (13-14) ◽  
pp. 1609-1626
Author(s):  
Yuran Jin ◽  
Xiangye Song ◽  
Jinhuan Tang ◽  
Xiaodong Dong ◽  
Huisheng Ji

The research on the business model of garment enterprises (BMGE) has expanded rapidly in the last decade. However, there is still a lack of comprehensive reviews of it, let alone visual research. Based on scientometrics, in this paper 118 papers and their 4803 references from Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Science, and Conference Proceedings Citation Index—Social Science & Humanities for the period 2010–2020 about the BMGE were analyzed by visualizing the co-cited references, co-occurrence keywords, burst references, dual-map overlays, and more with CiteSpace, Google Maps, and VOSviewer. The research revealed the intellectual landscapes of the BMGE for the first time and mapped the landmark papers, hotspots and trends, national or regional distributions and their cooperation networks, highly cited authors, and prestigious journals and disciplines related to the BMGE. The results show that the biggest hotspot is the fast fashion business model; social responsibility, smart fashion, Internet of Things, and sharing fashion are the main emerging hotspots; and the research focuses has evolved from traditional business models to business models driven by new technologies, then to new issues such as circular economy models. The institutions are mainly distributed in China, the United States, and Western Europe, and there is cooperation between more than 11 countries. The most popular disciplines are economics and politics, while psychology, education, and social science are the essential basic disciplines. The Journal of Cleaner Production and Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, among others, actively promoted the research.


Geography ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike C. Alberts ◽  
Julie L. Cidell

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