NER: Nanotechnology and Science Federalism

该提案是响应纳米科学与工程倡议，NSF 05-610，类别NER而收到的。 本项目研究纳米科学和工程（NSE）的政策制定，以提高在科学政策领域的政府间关系的理解。在当前的十年里，联邦和州政府在科学和技术方面的大量支出都集中在NSE上。因此，NSE政策制定提供了一个机会，研究和提高对科学联邦制失败的理解，并确定战略和机会，鼓励更多的合作方式，现在在大多数其他领域的政策制定。 世纪，美国政府间关系经历了三个不同的发展阶段：中央集权的联邦制，其特征是中央政府占主导地位; 20世纪60年代的功能联邦制，其特征是各级政府在不同政策领域的权力分配不同;在1980年代，政府间管理的特点是界限模糊，强调各级政府和私营部门之间的合作努力。 在20世纪70年代之前，科学政策由联邦政府主导，而自1980年以来，州政府在科学和技术方面的支出急剧增加。 这些国家投资的大部分是基于利用科学促进经济发展。 然而，尽管有这些国家支出，各级政府在科学政策制定方面几乎没有协调或合作。 本研究采用定性与定量相结合的数据收集与分析方法，旨在：（1）确定州和国家NSE政策制定的主要参与者;（2）确认国家NSE政策制定反映了中央集权的联邦制政府间关系模式;（3）探讨中央集权的联邦制模式为何在NSE政策制定中得以持续;以及4）研究NSE政策制定的潜力，以刺激科学联邦主义的演变。该研究探讨了在国家和国家层面参与NSE政策制定的个人和组织的角色和行为。为了了解政府间的动态，正在产生州和国家NSE政策，网络分析将被用来映射州和联邦机构官员，立法者和立法工作人员的角色和关系，以及外部利益集团的代表，包括行业协会，大学，私人智库，和其他组织具体与NSE政策。 该项目将有助于填补政治学和公共政策研究的空白，提高对促进或阻碍在政策领域内对政府间关系采取新办法的因素的认识。政府间关系的各种模式已经形成，但人们对导致采用一种模式而不是另一种模式的力量，或推动政策领域从一个阶段过渡到另一个阶段的力量知之甚少。借鉴公共政策文献，官僚权力，政策企业家，网络经纪人，政策变化和学习在这些过程中的作用将被具体审查。 该项目还将通过为那些对州和国家NSE政策以及更广泛的科学和技术政策感兴趣的人提供有关这些政策如何形成以及如何促进更多合作努力的新信息来产生更广泛的影响。该提案的主题是与长期纳米科学和工程进展相关的社会和教育问题。

This proposal was received in response to Nanoscale Science and Engineering initiative, NSF 05-610, category NER. This project examines nanoscale science and engineering (NSE) policy making to improve understanding of intergovernmental relations in the domain of science policy. In the current decade, much federal and state spending on science and technology has focused on NSE. NSE policy making thus provides an opportunity for examining and improving understanding of the failure of science federalism, and identifying strategies and opportunities for encouraging the more collaborative approaches that now prevail in most other areas of policy making. Intergovernmental relations in the United States have evolved through three distinct phases during the Twentieth Century: centralized federalism, characterized by dominance by the national government; functional federalism in the 1960s, characterized by varying allocations of power between levels of government across policy domains; and in the 1980s, intergovernmental management, characterized by a blurring of boundaries and emphasis on collaborative efforts among levels of government and the private sector. While science policy was dominated by the federal government prior to the 1970s, state government spending on science and technology has increased dramatically since 1980. Much of this state investment is predicated on leveraging science for economic development. Despite this state spending, however, there is little coordination or collaboration among levels of government in science policy making. This project employs qualitative and quantitative data collection and analyses methods to: 1) identify the key participants in state and national NSE policy making; 2) confirm that the national NSE policy making reflects the centralized federalism model of intergovernmental relations; 3) explore why the centralized federalism model has persisted in NSE policy making; and 4) examine the potential for NSE policy making to stimulate evolution in science federalism. The study examines the roles and behavior of individuals and organization involved in NSE policy making at both state and national levels. To understand the intergovernmental dynamics that are producing state and national NSE policies, network analysis will be used to map the roles and relationships of state and federal agency officials, legislators and legislative staff members, and representatives of outside interest groups including industry associations, universities, private think tanks, and other organizations specifically linked with NSE policy. This project will help fill a void in political science and public policy research by improving understanding of factors that facilitate or retard the adoption of new approaches to intergovernmental relations within policy domains. Various models of intergovernmental relations have been developed, but little is understood about the forces that cause one model to be adopted rather than another, or that drive the transition from one phase to another within a policy domain. Drawing from the public policy literature, the roles of bureaucratic power, policy entrepreneurs, network brokers, and policy change and learning in these processes will be specifically examined. The project will also have broader impact by providing those interested in state and national NSE policy as well as broader science and technology policy with new information about how such policies are formed and how more collaborative efforts might be fostered. The theme of the proposal is Societal and Educational Issues Associated with Long-Term Nanoscale Science and Engineering Advances.