Policy relevance: a sceptical view.

The academic international relations community has come under fire, both in Australia and overseas, for its supposed irrelevance to real-world issues. Recommendations have been made for ‘bridging’ this ‘gap’ between the scholarly and policy worlds. This article takes a sceptical look at some of thes...

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Published in:Australian Journal of International Affairs Vol. 71; no. 3; pp. 300 - 315
Main Author: Miller, Charles
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jun2017
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Policy relevance: a sceptical view.
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        au: Miller, Charles
        affil: School of Politics and International Relations, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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        Scholars
        International relations
        Debate
        Australian National University
        Radicalism
        Conferences & conventions
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          International relations
          Debate
          Australian National University
          Radicalism
          Conferences & conventions
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        Academia
        international affairs
        policy relevance
      ab: The academic international relations community has come under fire, both in Australia and overseas, for its supposed irrelevance to real-world issues. Recommendations have been made for ‘bridging’ this ‘gap’ between the scholarly and policy worlds. This article takes a sceptical look at some of these recommendations. While this article argues that international affairs academics should be judged on their ability to provide value to society, it also notes that the best way to do so is to capitalise on the academy’s comparative advantages in order to produce high-quality inputs to the public debate. This article expresses concern that some of the recommendations put forward to bridge the gap may, by compromising impartiality, excessively curtailing the time frames for good research, and neglecting theoretical and methodological rigour, run the risk of reducing academia’s value to society.
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    language: English
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