Transforming Cross-National Theory and Research through International Research Collaboratives

这笔赠款为研究人员网络或国际研究合作组织(IRC)提供资金，这些研究人员组织起来完成特定的国际重点法律和社会科学项目。国际学术研究中心的参与者分布在世界各地，他们承诺共同致力于一个合作研究项目，以推动理论、方法论和政策的发展，并产生明确的学术成果。在赠款期间，30个国际研究中心的成员将就各种主题的跨国法律和社会科学研究的理论和方法问题进行讨论，包括法律全球化、气候变化、世界各地的债务和信贷法规、全球指标的使用、比较司法解决程序、人权、公民参与法律决策以及法律教育的变化。NSF赠款资金将使来自低收入和中等收入国家的学者能够前往参加国际会议，与IRC其他成员合作并介绍他们的工作。这一倡议对法学和社会科学的理论和方法论都具有重要意义。跨学科和跨国家的团队将为他们解决的问题带来更广泛的理论视角。国际研究中心还将产生关于分析全球法律和社会科学现象的最有效研究方法的新知识。该倡议还为公共政策的推进带来了希望。在更广泛和更深入的跨国专业知识的基础上制定的公共政策产生建设性影响的可能性大大增加。在美国和其他主要欧洲和亚洲国家面临巨大的新挑战--包括快速的法律变化、国际金融危机以及加强国家和国际安全的必要性--之际，至关重要的是，在强有力的研究基础上，制定一个更全面的法律理论框架。这里描述的协作模式提供了一种创新且前景看好的前进方式。

This grant funds networks of researchers, or International Research Collaboratives (IRCs), who organize themselves to accomplish specific internationally-focused law and social science projects. Participants in IRCs are distributed across the world's regions, and commit to work together on a collaborative research project to advance theory, methodology, and policy and to generate a defined scholarly product. During the grant period, members of thirty IRCs will address the theoretical and methodological problems of transnational law and social science research on a variety of topics, including the globalization of law, climate change, debt and credit regulations throughout the world, the use of global indicators, comparative judicial settlement procedures, human rights, citizen participation in legal decision making, and changes in legal education. NSF grant funding will enable scholars from low and middle income countries to travel to an international meeting to collaborate with other IRC members and present their work. This initiative is significant for theory and for methodology in law and social science. The cross-disciplinary and cross-national teams will bring wider theoretical perspectives to the problems they address. The IRCs will also generate new knowledge about the most effective research methods for analyzing global law and social science phenomena. The initiative also holds promise for public policy advances. Public policy formulated on the basis of broader and deeper transnational expertise has significantly greater probability of making a constructive impact. At a time when the US and other leading European and Asian countries face enormous new challenges - including rapid legal changes, international financial crises, and the need for increased national and international security - it is essential to produce a more comprehensive theoretical framework about law that is built on robust research. The collaborative model described here offers an innovative and promising way of moving forward.