1,721,372 research outputs found
Implementing the transformative innovation policy in the European Union: how does transformative change occur in Member States?
Full text linkDespite the emerging theoretical importance of the ‘transformative change’ approach, relatively little is known about how transition towards this approach is happening in different European contexts, as well as the institutional factors that help explain possible different reform trajectories. To fill this research gap, this article interprets the adoption of the ‘transformative change’ approach in Europe as a paradigmatic case of multi-level policy implementation in the European Union. Taking advantage of an institutional approach drawing on path dependency, it considers how transformative change is happening in two Member States (France and Germany). It does so by focusing on the policy mix adopted to address grand challenges and the type of governance mechanisms mainly used to secure legitimization and coordination. Albeit within the same EU framework, this article shows a diverse development of the innovation policies in the two Member States with the use of a different mix of policy instruments in line with their traditional domestic institutional contexts. Institutional contexts also filtered the early stages of the responses to the COVID-19 crisis. These results have specific implications useful for policy makers and practitioners in the design and implementation of regional innovation policies across different European contexts
Under which conditions is Cohesion Policy effective: proposing an Hirschmanian approach to EU structural funds
No full textUnder which conditions is EU Cohesion Policy effective? Which are those ‘conditioning factors’ that help in explaining where, when, and how the Cohesion Policy is effective? This article adopts an Hirschmanian approach to argue that that the institutional characteristics of domestic authorities involved in the management of funds, as well as the decisions of policy makers, represent the key factors for understanding the effects of the Cohesion Policy in European regions. By using Cohesion Policy implementation in Italy and Spain as a pilot study, this article empirically investigates the interaction of three different types of factors (institutional, strategic [related to the types of investments made], and administrative), and elaborates an original framework for comparing different Cohesion Policy implementations, and existing studies analyzing the impact of the Cohesion Policy. The framework presented in this article could be extended to other European countries by political scientists who are interested in studying the Cohesion Policy as a case of development policy
Centralizing cohesion policy in times of austerity: evidence from the policy cycle
No full textEuropean policy-making has been interpreted as a pendulum that swings between the Member States (MSs) and the transnational arena when choices about where to assign policy responsibilities have to be made. As in other policy sectors, the pendulum metaphor has been used to interpret the changes which have occurred in Cohesion Policy supremacy. This article analyses how the attribution of responsibilities between the European Commission (EC), and the MSs has changed in the different phases of the policy cycle since the 1988 reform to the present day, simultaneously with the main stages of the European integration process. The main argument is that the 2008 Global Financial Crisis was a critical juncture within the history of the aforementioned integration process because it opened the way for the pursuit of new paths: it favoured the consolidation of a new governance system that pivots on the EC’s active role, by identifying Cohesion Policy as the main instrument to pursue the Europe 2020 objectives. Accordingly, this article provides interpretative keys with which to explain the changes that have occurred in intergovernmental relations since the 1988 reform, as well as analytical tools with which to understand the ongoing debate on the future of EU policy-making
Between Continuities and Changes. The Roman Catholic Church and the Italian Mezzogiorno
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Il nuovo associazionismo intercomunale. Sfide e risposte delle culture politiche locali
No full textA partire dal 2010, anche in Italia l’associazionismo intercomunale sta conoscendo una “nuova” stagione che apre la strada a ulteriori e inesplorati sentieri di ricerca. Il volume si inserisce all'interno di questo dibattito, interrogandosi su quanto il peso delle eredità storiche consolidatesi nei singoli contesti italiani stia influenzando le modalità della cooperazione intercomunale nelle regioni italiane. Coniugando l’approccio neoistituzionalista con l’analisi delle culture politiche locali e avvalendosi di una solida e pluriannuale ricerca empirica, il libro descrive e interpreta le principali caratteristiche dell'intercomunalità in Emilia-Romagna e in Veneto, due realtà storicamente caratterizzate da una differente cultura di governo regionale e da un diverso grado di individualismo amministrativo municipale. La ricerca mostra come la comprensione del “nuovo” associazionismo intercomunale non possa prescindere da una preliminare analisi del contesto entro cui si sta radicando
Between Secularization and Desecularization. What Future does Religion have in a Globalized World?
No full textThe aim of this paper is to present a scientific debate on the role that religion plays in modern society. On one hand, many scholars believe that religion has historically been a fundamental institution of social acting and as such it has determined the succession of the founding values of the daily life that continue to be passed down from generation to generation. On the other hand, several other scholars point out how modernity is changing the social role of religion because it is reduced to a simple privatization of the faith and is far from its original features. Starting from a sociological point of view, this reflection on the matter is exactly half way between the above-mentioned ones, proposing a model of analysis that sees religion both changed com- pared to the past and still fundamental to individual’s social acting
Come le regioni possono guidare il processo di riordino territoriale. Il caso della Regione Emilia-Romagna
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Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research
No full textInnovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research is a social science journal on innovation, change, and transformation of organisations, institutions, and societies at large. European integration and enlargement pose fundamental challenges for policy, politics, citizenship, culture, and democracy. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research provides a unique forum for discussing these processes. It welcomes articles on all aspects of European developments that contribute to the improvement of social science knowledge and the setting of a policy-focused European research agenda. This does not exclude theoretical reflections. For as we know: “There is nothing more practical than a good theory” (Kurt Lewin)
Who governs in (local) governance? Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence
Full text linkAbstract This article aims to discuss the possible actors that can determine public policies, and the influence of new decisional arenas on politics. This theoretical work presents the evolution of different models of producing public policies, to the transformations taking place with the adoption of the governance model. Using empirical evidence from the Italian case, the study of new decisional arenas for the determination of public policies shows that there are still several problems to be addressed. Such problems are connected, above all, with the uncertain democratic nature of these arenas, as well as with the impossibility to clearly attribute political responsibility to the choices adopted in these spaces. These are issues and future research questions to be resolved, limiting the analysis to specific case studies, preferably related to the local sphere.</jats:p
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