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MOBILISING RESEARCHERS: THEIR ROLE IN RELATION TO LISBON

MOBILISING RESEARCHERS: THEIR ROLE IN RELATION TO LISBON. Graham Room, University of Bath. Introduction. Mobilising researchers in the Lisbon process Compare with earlier mobilisation in EU initiatives on poverty and social exclusion. Social inclusion OMC in particular

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MOBILISING RESEARCHERS: THEIR ROLE IN RELATION TO LISBON

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  1. MOBILISING RESEARCHERS: THEIR ROLE IN RELATION TO LISBON Graham Room, University of Bath

  2. Introduction • Mobilising researchers in the Lisbon process • Compare with earlier mobilisation in EU initiatives on poverty and social exclusion. • Social inclusion OMC in particular • Three dimensions of the Lisbon process • Convergence towards common objectives • Cross-national policy benchmarking and diffusing best practice • Public participation and accountability • Creative tensions and ambiguities

  3. EU Initiatives on Poverty and Social Exclusion • Speaking Truth to Power • Rediscovery of Poverty: Seamus O Cinneide • National Reports (1980) • Observatory on National Policies to Combat Social Exclusion (1990-94) • O’Higgins and Jenkins (1987) • Eurostat …. ECHP and EU-SILC • Foreshadows OMC social inclusion indicators • OMC convergence towards common objectives

  4. Action-Research, Evaluation, Policy Innovation • WoP and CDP • Rhetoric of experimentation, participation ….and cross-national policy learning • Evaluation from above • ….and from below • devising local innovations and constructing arguments for reform • empowering local actors in European games • Europe-wide pool of resources and models for local action • Policy transfer from centre versus innovation through decentralised networks • Foreshadows OMC cross-national policy learning • central goal of fourth Community poverty programme in relation to OMC • researchers involved through evaluation and studies

  5. Public Accountability of EU Initiatives • Public hearings by European Parliament preparatory to third Poverty Programme • House of Lords Select Committee 1994 • Foreshadows OMC interest in governance and public accountability of EU

  6. The Political Context of Research Mobilisation • EU initiatives on Poverty and Social Exclusion: • Public sweetener versus drive for economic dynamism • Paris 1972 versus Brussels 1988 • Lisbon process mid-term review: • streamlined objectives: indicators for upward accountability • undervalues other dimensions of OMC • social as dividend of economic not its precondition • Blair challenge: dynamic KBE + public re-engagement

  7. Mobilisation of Researchers in the Lisbon process Speaking Truth to Power • Reaffirm social dimension of the KBE: an agenda for research and debate • Social dividend of economic growth • Security and flexibility • Social precondition of dynamic economy: • Human investment and skills in demographically challenged societies • Local and regional agreements to create high skill labour pools • Kristensen and Zeitlin (2005): innovation capacity embedded in social politics of local/regional/national communities • Skills + management + work organisation + technology: for innovation dynamics (Room et al, 2005) • Social policy and ‘national innovation systems’

  8. Support Cross-National Learning and Policy Innovation • Elaborate benchmarking indicators for • Convergence • but also for dynamic innovation and cross-national learning • by government, business, civil society • Rear view mirrors versus smart indicators looking forward • Applying benchmarking but also benchlearning

  9. Illuminate governance processes for public accountability • Debate national policies by reference to cross-European experience: • Comparison with policies elsewhere • Expose alternative futures and trade-offs • Stronger scrutiny of national (and regional and local) authorities • Powerful vindication of EU commitment to good governance • Re-builds public engagement with EU institutions

  10. Conclusion • Research mobilisation: • Expose alternative dynamics for the Lisbon process and their social, economic and political implications • Engage critically with the Blair challenge • Social dimension of the KBE • Modes of policy development by means of which the EU can address these challenges effectively: Lisbon or what? • Central priority for FP7: to build this research capacity

  11. References you may have missed … • Atkinson, A B, et al. (2005), Taking Forward the EU Social Inclusion Process, Luxembourg: Luxembourg Presidency of the European Union. • De la Porte, C, Pochet, P and Room, G (2001), 'Social Benchmarking, Policy-Making and New Governance in the EU', Journal of European Social Policy, 11(4): 291-307. • European Commission (2003), Communication: Innovation Policy: Updating the Union's approach in the context of the Lisbon Strategy, COM(2003)112 final, Brussels: European Commission • European Commission (2005), Communication to the Spring European Council: Working Together for Growth and Jobs: A New Start for the Lisbon Strategy, COM(2005)24, 2 February 2005, Brussels: European Commission • Kristensen, P H and Zeitlin, J (2005), Local Players in Global Games: The Strategic Constitution of a Multinational Corporation, Oxford: Oxford University Press. • Lundvall, B-A and Tomlinson, M (2002), 'International Benchmarking as a Policy Learning Tool', in M J Rodrigues (ed), The New Knowledge Economy in Europe, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. • Room, G (2005), The European Challenge: Innovation, Policy Learning and Social Cohesion in the New Knowledge Economy, Bristol: The Policy Press.

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