This article builds on the recent policy diffusion literature and attempts to overcome one of its major problems, namely the lack of a coherent theoretical framework. The literature defines policy diffusion as a process where policy choices are interdependent, and identifies several diffusion...

A basic paradox in funding policy is that policy-makers want to guarantee maximum welfare benefits without violating the independence of scientists and their organisations. This article contends that this problem can be adequately conceptualised in terms of delegation and principal-agent theory....

The rational choice perspective is prominent in many sociological, economic and political science literature but has been undervalued until now in the field of science studies. This special issue attempts to revalorise this perspective by introducing the principal-agent theory with relation to...

The article highlights the main problems Switzerland faces in engaging in a more encompassing knowledge and innovation policy, an objective that is widely shared by the political elites. Two ‘coordination gaps’ are highlighted in the context of Switzerland: the ‘federal divide’ that...

This special issue of Science and Public Policy takes up the recently discussed problem of political coordination in the ‘third phase of innovation’. The introduction prepares the analytical ground for the four case studies that follow. It develops the image of a ‘knowledge space’...

The article takes up the main questions developed in the introduction and endeavours to give a synthetic account of the findings in the various country studies in this special issue of SPP. In a nutshell, one can see an impressive account of reform activities concerning the improvement of the...

The article presents a case of successful constitutional change in Switzerland, the "re-assignment of responsibilities between the federal government and the cantons and the new fiscal equalization scheme," which was adopted in 2004 by referendum. By starting from the general assumption that...