Could Distributed Peer Review Better Decide Grant Funding?
The landscape of academic grant funding is notoriously competitive and plagued by lengthy, bureaucratic processes, exacerbated by difficulties in finding willing reviewers. Distributed […]
Finance is a Subject Social Science Must Study
If we are to hope to find a solution to the instability of the financial system, write the team behind a new edited volume, it is important to present finance as a social and political space.
Did Emile Durkheim Foresee Today’s Chaos?
Emile Durkheim, one of the pioneers of the discipline of sociology, died 101 years ago this month. Although few outside of social science departments know his name, his intellectual legacy may provide us with some assistance in diagnosing the perennial problems associated with modernity.
Extreme Polarization Is Bad But Need Not Be Inevitable
Are Americans now stuck in animosity and anger that will undermine democracy, or can the nation pull out of it? Here, Jennifer McCoy shares some of the findings of a collaborative research project she led that examined political polarization in 11 countries, including the United States. Their research shows that the most democratic of actions – participating in elections – is exactly the thing to do to help reduce polarization.
Even Self-Identified Independents are Partisan in America
According to the Gallup polling firm, writes Christopher Devine, the identity that people choose most often is actually “independent” – not Democratic or Republican. In 2017, 42 percent of Americans chose this label – up from the low 30s just 14 years ago, in 2004. However, three-quarters of these “independents” admit, when asked, that they lean toward favoring the Democratic or Republican Party.
Africa Takes Steps in Using Evidence to Inform Policy
Africa has a real challenge when it comes to using academic research and evidence to design policies. “The problem is twofold,” says author Ruth Stewart, “policymakers sometimes don’t call on available research, while for their part academics don’t know how to engage with policymakers.” But this isn’t stopping the continent from taking strides in the right direction.
Funding for Basic Research has Future Payoffs
Basic research can be easy to mock as pointless and wasteful of resources. But it’s very often the foundation for future innovation – even in ways the original scientists couldn’t have imagined.
The US Professoriat and the Limits of Free Speech
Researches at the University of Florida’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information have studied the rights of public employees when they speak with the news media. Here, they look specifically at professors at public universities in the United States and find there are broad protections – within limits.
The ‘Odyssey’ of Today’s Leadership Crisis
Centuries ago, myths helped the Greeks learn to reject tyrannical authority and identify the qualities of good leadership. Emily Anhalt argues that the same myths that long predate the world’s very first democracy have lessons for us today – just as they did for the ancient Greeks centuries ago.
