Expanding Law and Social Science Research by International Research Collaboration

本项目支持法学和社会科学研究人员组织的具有全球影响力的法律与社会关系研究小组的工作。其目标是通过将美国学者与世界其他地区的法律和社会科学研究人员之间进行的理论、方法和政策讨论联系起来，普遍加强法律和社会科学奖学金，特别是美国学者的奖学金。恐怖主义、人口贩运、大流行病、移民、国际金融和贸易、性别不平等和自然资源治理等跨国问题要求采取对策，考虑到许多不同国家的法律体制和做法。跨学科和跨国团队将推动科学发展，并通过为他们所解决的问题带来更广阔的视角，帮助使科学工作者多样化。通过促进社会法学研究领域的国际交流，美国学者可以拓展自己的视角，这也将有助于他们研究美国国内问题。美国学者还可以与其他国家的同行合作，为全球范围内的公共政策和实践做出更大的贡献。世界上饱受战争蹂躏或不太富裕地区的民族国家，如果本国学者有能力为决策者提供建议，并且政府可以利用国际学术网络建立自己的制度，那么它们可能更有能力找到自己的解决方案，并与外部援助机构和外国政府进行更有效的合作。本项目支持跨国和跨学科的国际研究合作组织（IRCs）的工作，这些研究小组从全球角度看待重要的法律和社会科学问题。这些研究小组将于2017年在墨西哥城举行的法律与社会协会和法律社会学研究委员会联合国际会议上会面。赠款资金用于使低收入和中等收入国家的学者参与研究中心的研究活动。IRC模型建立在过去由国家科学基金会支持的研究合作的基础上，这些合作产生了许多重要的理论和应用发现。这些合作项目的目标是通过将美国学者与世界其他地区的法律和社会科学研究人员之间正在进行的理论、方法和政策讨论联系起来，加强美国学者的法律和社会科学研究。恐怖主义、人口贩运、大流行病、移民、国际金融和贸易、性别不平等和自然资源治理等跨国问题要求采取对策，考虑到许多不同国家的法律体制和做法。跨学科和跨国团队将为他们解决的问题带来更广泛的理论视角。IRCs为分析全球法律和社会科学现象提供了最有效的研究方法。

General Summary This project supports the work of groups of law and social science researchers organized to carry out research on the relationship between law and society with a global reach. The objective is to strengthen law and social science scholarship generally and especially that of U.S. scholars by connecting them with theoretical, methodological, and policy discussions taking place among law and social science researchers in other parts of the world. Transnational problems, such as terrorism, human trafficking, pandemics, immigration, international finance and trade, gender inequality, and natural resource governance, require responses that take into account the legal institutions and practices of many different countries. Cross-disciplinary and cross-national teams will advance science and help diversify the scientific workforce by bringing wider perspectives to the problems they address. By facilitating international exchange in the area of socio-legal research, US scholars can expand their own perspectives, which will also help their work on domestic US problems. US scholars can also, in partnership with their peers in other countries, make greater contributions to public policy and practice on a global scale. Nation-states in war-torn or less affluent regions of the world may be better able to find their own solutions as well as to cooperate more effectively with external aid agencies and foreign governments when their own scholars are well equipped to advise policy-makers, and when the governments can draw upon international scholarly networks for their own institution building. Technical SummaryThis project supports the work of cross-national and cross-disciplinary International Research Collaboratives (IRCs), research groups that incorporate global perspectives on important law and social science problems. The research groups will meet at a joint international conference in Mexico City in 2017 of the Law and Society Association and the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law. The grant funds are used to enable scholars from low and middle income countries to participate in the research activities of the IRCs. The IRC model builds on past research collaborations supported by the National Science Foundation, collaborations that have produced many important theoretical and applied discoveries. The objective of the collaboratives is to strengthen law and social science scholarship of U.S. scholars by connecting them with theoretical, methodological, and policy discussions taking place among law and social science researchers in other parts of the world. Transnational problems, such as terrorism, human trafficking, pandemics, immigration, international finance and trade, gender inequality, and natural resource governance, require responses that take into account the legal institutions and practices of many different countries. The cross-disciplinary and cross-national teams will bring wider theoretical perspectives to the problems they address. The IRCs generate new knowledge about the most effective research methods for analyzing global law and social science phenomena.