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Political scientists could use a centralized wiki-style website where scholars could catalogue their published and working papers and explain, in layman’s terms, the value of the research and its normative implications for policy.
Overcoming Collective Action Dilemmas
The academic community faces a significant collective action problem. It is difficult to estimate the number or percent of scholars who benefit, directly or indirectly, from NSF-supported research. It may not be a majority. By definition, the research funded through the political science program at NSF produces public goods for the academic community. If there’s one thing political scientists know, it’s that public goods result in collective action problems. Our inaction is perhaps what has led to the situation we now find ourselves in. We can solve this collective dilemma in a number of ways, but the best are to look to leaders who can help coordinate and lead our efforts. Of course, the APSA was organized, in part, for this purpose and has engaged in some advocacy. But the discipline would be well served to ask APSA to hire a lobbyist, if only temporarily, to help usher this line-item appropriation request through the appropriations process. We will require a knowledgeable lobbyist who is familiar with budget politics and social science
and who is well-connected on the Hill.
The take away:
- Goals: Step 1—get the language to lift NSF
restrictions incorporated into a FY 2014 appropriations bill; Step 2—build support
for passage of the appropriations bill. - Organize now to develop a lobbying infrastructure that will be useful during the FY 2014 appropriations considerations in the fall of 2013.This includes developing a public website devoted to the cause that can be used to transparently post information about supportive lawmakers, catalogue scholars own pitches about the public utility of their research, and gather relevant data.
- Target legislators known to be sympathetic to scientific research.
- Develop a simple and coherent message about the value of political science research.
- Develop a one-page summary that uses evidence from the discipline about how the research contributes to American society, improves our communities, educates our children, and makes democracy more successful.
- In later stages (once the provision has been added to the bill), build coalitions with other disciplines to promote passage of the bill.
- Solve our collective action problem by hiring experts, with solid connections and experience with appropriations, to represent our interests on this topic.
[Cross-posted at The Mischiefs of Faction]
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