Interests, Ideas and Legacies of the Past: Analysing the Positions and Strategies of Swedish Policy Actors in the Establishment of the European Research Council

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Read More Add to Saved list
  • Author(s): Persson, Bo
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    European Educational Research Journal. May 2018 17(3):404-420.
  • Publication Date:
    2018
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      17
    • Education Level:
      Higher Education
    • Subject Terms:
      Policy Analysis; Public Policy; Scientific Research; Foreign Countries; Higher Education; Educational Research; Case Studies; Policy Formation; Advocacy; Entrepreneurship; Communities of Practice; International Organizations; International Cooperation; History
    • Subject Terms:
      Sweden; European Union
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/1474904117719142
    • ISSN:
      1474-9041
    • Abstract:
      In the past decade, the number of EU policy activities in research and higher education has increased greatly. The governance processes in these areas are increasingly characterized as multilayered, involving actors with a variety of roles, functions and loyalties. This article focuses on the forces shaping the policy positions and strategies of national science policy actors and coalitions in transnational policy processes through a case study of the positions, ideas and strategies held by central Swedish science policy actors in the process of building the European Research Council (ERC) during the first decade of the 2000s. The case is analysed from the perspectives of three versions of neo-institutional theory, each of which has somewhat different views on how institutions, interests and policy ideas interact in these kind of processes. The analysis shows that the Swedish influence on this process consisted primarily of an advocacy coalition of individuals with strong institutional positions in the Swedish science policy system and affiliations to transnational policy institutions and communities. Furthermore, the study shows that the policy actors largely functioned as normative entrepreneurs who related to general policy ideas shared by members of a transnational community, but also that the drivers of the development and the policy solutions were largely anchored in experiences and legacies from a national context.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Number of References:
      62
    • Publication Date:
      2018
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1175777