Studying democratic innovations: toward a problem-driven approach to case study research

ABSTRACT

Hajer and Wagenaar (2003. Deliberative Policy Analysis: Understanding Governance in the Network Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, xiv, 16) advanced a conception of policy analysis – “Deliberative Policy Analysis” – that “rests on three pillars: interpretation, practice and deliberation.” This form of policy analysis, they argued, supports “more direct, participatory forms of democracy” involving “democratic deliberation on concrete issues” (xv, 29). Since their writing, empirical research on such initiatives – “democratic innovations,” for short – has blossomed. However, while deliberative policy analysis is itself post-positivist in orientation, many researchers bring a (quasi-) positivist orientation to their work on democratic innovations. A key challenge for deliberative policy analysts is, then, how to participate in this field of inquiry while maintaining a post-positivist orientation. Pragmatist philosophy, I submit, can help them to meet this challenge. Pragmatism rejects a number of positivist assumptions about the nature of empirical inquiry. Relatedly, it supports the claim that policy analysis should be interpretive, practice-oriented, and deliberative. Indeed, it suggests that policy analysis cannot avoid being so. By way of illustration, I indicate how pragmatism points to an approach to case study research that rests on the three pillars.     

制度创新与西部大开发

制度创新是西部大开发中的首要问题,也是具有决定性作用的问题.基于新制度经济学的分析框架,先从理论上阐述了制度对经济发展的重要作用,而后又对改革开放以来制度创新对东部地区经济高速发展所起的关键作用作了实证分析,并把西部地区的现实情况同东部地区进行对比,从而论证了制度创新在西部大开发中的重要作用并指出其自身特点.提出了对西部大开发中制度演进和设计过程中的制度创新主体转换问题和制度创新成本的一些看法及西部大开发中的制度安排建议.     

建立激励机制提高道德素质

目前我国的道德风尚已落后于市场经济的发展,急需建立一系列的激励机制,确保道德教育在良好的社会环境、健康的社区文化和教育者所施加的吸引力的动源机制下进行,保障道德教育在一系列动力因素的推动下收到良好的效果,调动教育者与被教育者的积极性,达到提高道德素质的目的.     

元宇宙创新扩散中社会群体接入差异及其问题研究

元宇宙作为虚拟和现实融合的数字空间,正迅速成为全球创新和科技发展的新前沿,然而,不同社会群体在接入和利用元宇宙技术过程中存在显著差异,可能导致技术红利的不均衡分配和新的社会问题。通过对相关文献、案例的分析,对比中国互联网前序技术的创新扩散历程,以罗杰斯的创新扩散经典理论为框架,认为元宇宙技术在中国社会的创新扩散,主要从代际数字鸿沟、城乡数字鸿沟、社会差序格局三个层面凸显社会问题,包括世代效应与后喻文化特征进一步凸显、基于“90后”世代的城乡数字平衡将被打破、以“脱域”和“脱序”为主要表征的中国社会差序格局的打破与重建。针对以上问题,研究认为:第一,从技术、政策、社会层面,提升元宇宙“适老化”预先布局意识,解决代际数字鸿沟隐患;第二,加大农村地区基础设施建设、人才培养力度等,持续强化乡村数字化生态建设;第三,从国家、制度、理论研究等方面,对新社会生态进行黏合及矛盾干预,助力中国社会更好更快地适应新技术带来的全新世界。     

知识产权制度功能的重读与澄清——对“鼓励创造说”的检讨与批判

知识产权能够鼓励创造系知识产权制度功能的通常解说,该说法及其依据的历史素材之间存在循环论证的嫌疑。事实上,经由不同价值导向进行的历史阐释呈现出更加丰富的知识产权制度发展历程,揭示出鼓励创造说极有可能是一种倒果为因的立法策略。横向比较古代中国知识产权制度萌芽及受阻的过程,将发现强大的利益诉求与社会认可而非鼓励创造的期待是形成知识产权制度的重要原因,进而澄清制度功能并非价值诠释,而是事实描述这一基本问题。知识产权最重要的制度功能在于为作品、发明、商标这些信息提供市场化的制度环境,在不同的社会主体之间分配基于这些信息产生的利益。     

市场机制与企业技术创新

从需求拉动、企业规模、技术扩散、技术创新风险和国际贸易等理论以及某原国营企业的创新实践,分析企业技术创新和市场机制的内在关联,指出解决当今企业技术创新效率不高的关键是健全市场机制。     

Diffusion of innovations through social networks: Determinants and implications

Social scientists have long been interested in the diffusion of innovations—the process by which new ideas, behavior, and practices spread between persons, organizations, and even countries. While innovations can enter a community through various channels, ongoing spread of innovations through a community occurs through the medium of social networks—collections of interpersonal or digital relationships connecting actors to each other. Social networks are important for diffusion because relationships foster communication, trust, and flow of information. Diffusion outcomes are also shaped by the structural properties of social networks such as density, centrality, and strength of ties, as well as properties of the innovation and the actors involved in the process. The purpose of the article is twofold: (1) to take stock of the field and review ongoing debates on the role of social networks in the diffusion of innovations and (2) to summarize the sociological implications of the diffusion of innovations through social networks.