Wicked game of smart specialization: a player’s handbook

The objective of this article is to explore the theoretical foundations of a wicked game. The theoretical part is based on the notion of wicked problems, which is developed further. It is also illustrated that the latest innovation strategy of the European Union, called smart specialization, resembles a wicked game. Comparison between the two revealed several similarities gives new insights into the theory of wicked problems and into the process of smart specialization.     

Wandering intellectuals: establishing a research agenda on gender,walking, and thinking

Building on a study of three women who practice walking-for-thinking as a part of their intellectual work, the analysis identifies potential themes for a future research agenda on gender, walking, and thinking. A particular focus is the subtle, daily, management of gendered expectations and ways in which walking, for these women, is a contribution to such management. We name this ‘walking away from expectations’ and identify three themes: walking away from others’ gaze, walking away from restlessness and domestic responsibility, and walking away as belonging. Walking emerges as a skilful way of creating the conditions to do one’s intellectual work and manage gendered expectations. Further, the meanings of silences about gender in the context of intellectual work and walking is discussed and questions for future research agenda are suggested.     

‘Musicking’ children from the Bohemian lands: nurtured and hidden musical practices on both sides of the Iron Curtain

Based on an analysis of musical childhood memories from over 80 Germans from the Bohemian lands and historical evidence, this article investigates processes of social and political integration and assimilation of German children and young adults who, in the aftermath of the Second World War, were either expelled to Germany or remained in their Bohemian homelands. Memories of Germans expelled to West Germany disclose the various ways in which musical repertoire and musical practices are able to mitigate both the loss of the homeland and the distressing overall effects of expulsion, as well as reveal how music facilitates the building of a new sense of belonging in the face of geographic displacement and material dispossession. The study further highlights how the reframing and even silencing of musical practices on the other side of the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia affected processes of social-identity reconstruction until and after the 1989 fall of Communism. Results of this study foreground that individual musical experiences reveal new historical narratives of how German expellees used and still use musical practices to negotiate intercultural power relationships and rebuild a sense of belonging in their respective post-war environment in West Germany or Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic.     

Introduction: Between Morality and Anthropology—Sociability in Enlightenment Thought

Summary

This introductory article sketches out the evolution of the concept of sociability in moral and political debates from Grotius to the German Romantics, so as to elucidate the range and scope of the contributions to this special issue. The article argues that the concept of sociability serves as a bridge between moral theory, domestic politics and international relations, just as it also connects the jurisprudential mode of enquiry to subsequent Enlightenment enquiries into political economy, aesthetics, individual and collective moral psychology, forms of government and philosophical history. Particular attention is paid to sociability's relationship to moral scepticism, and to its position between morality and anthropology. The article highlights the central role of Rousseau in radically reformulating the debate and in sparking new controversies up to the nineteenth century.     

The Angelic Brethren and Everyday Sacredness: A Protestant Theologian's Journey from Berlin to Leiden in 1717*

In the summer of 1717, a private teacher named Jacob Michelmann travelled from Berlin to Leiden to meet the head of a Protestant community known as the Angelic Brethren. During a pivotal time in European religious and intellectual history, Johann Wilhelm Überfeld sought to inculcate in his followers, including Michelmann, a powerful sense of everyday sacredness. Überfeld criticised what he perceived as the markedness of religious speech and acts compared to unmarked everyday activities. Implicitly, this state of affairs rendered the bulk of daily life profane, that is, largely detached and irrelevant to religious life and spiritual progress. For Überfeld and his followers, however, the divine spirit could communicate even through seemingly mundane trivialities, if believers had eyes to see and ears to hear. Accordingly, they paid great attention to household chores and domestic spaces. During his journey, Michelmann successfully acquired this mindset. Yet several years later he started neglecting the lessons of his journey, which caused conflict with Überfeld. Based on the visitor's own travelogue and a wealth of other sources, this article describes Michelmann's journey from its inception to its aftermath while probing Überfeld's notion of everyday sacredness.     

The Advocacy Coalition Index: A new approach for identifying advocacy coalitions

Policy scholars have increasingly focused on collaborative and competitive relationships between stakeholder coalitions. The Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) in particular has directed scholarly attention toward such relationships. The ACF defines advocacy coalitions as groups of actors who share beliefs and coordinate their action. However, previous research has been inconsistent in defining and measuring coalitions, which has hampered comparative research and theory building. We present a method called the Advocacy Coalition Index, which measures belief similarity and the coordination of action in a manner that makes it possible to assess the extent to which advocacy coalitions are found in policy subsystems, whether subgroups resemble coalitions, and how individual actors contribute to coalition formation. The index provides a standardized method for identifying coalitions that can be applied to comparative research. To illustrate the effectiveness of the index, we analyze two climate change policy subsystems, namely Finland and Sweden, which have been shown to differ in terms of the association of belief similarity with coordination. We demonstrate that the index performs well in identifying the different types of subsystems, coalitions, and actors that contribute the most to coalition formation, as well as those involved in cross-coalition brokerage.     

SWEDEN AND L'ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES

This article discusses the scientific relations between Sweden and France in the 18th century and how the Swedes had access to the new international scientific community that was building up with the new science academies. Contemporary honours accorded to the Swedes indicate who acquired entrance to the European scientific elite and why. International recognition was often tied to personal relations, patrons and foreign travels. P.‐L. M. de Maupertuis' expedition to the Arctic Circle in 1736–1737 was an influential event. But also other Swedes than the academy elite were present in French translations. A common denominator behind the interest accorded to both groups often seems to be related to the northernness of Sweden as a unique place for performing experiments and observations. New explanations (apart from the often appealling exoticism) are sought from the experimental and encyclopedistic nature of 18th‐century science and the implications of the widespread climate discource.