The IDIS research group unites researchers interested in ideas as roots of institutional forms, ideational changes of institutions, and the adoption of institutional models, as well as the role of organizations carrying and constructing institutional ideas. Combining conceptual, discursive, institutional, experimental and policy analysis we explore how and why institutions and their underlying ideas evolve and change over time, and in which context and to what effect. We are particularly interested in the mechanisms through which institutional ideas circulate globally and are adapted to different regional and national contexts, and how concepts, discourses, and narratives but also different actors, policy instruments, numbers and algorithms facilitate their acclimatization. Moreover, we study how institutional ideas are translated into action on the organizational level and how organizations and institutional actors function in policy processes. Here our focus lies on ideational and institutional tensions, political conflicts, and acts of politicization to induce change, but also institutional and ideational continuity. We also pay special attention to the epistemic capital of organizations and to the role or power of various epistemic communities within institutional and policy processes.
Historical formation of state-theoretical ideas and conceptual shifts of accountability
Global accountability institutions of Nordic origin such as government transparency and the ombudsman; ideas of self-regulation in corporate social responsibility and the politicization thereof; oversight institutions as sources for and carriers of ideas but also as sites for conflicts over ideas in policy processes; organization theory and democratic governance; lobbyists’ effect on regulation.
Paradigmatic ideas and the role of experts in crises
Ideational power in relation to the EU fiscal rules; institutional recovery from Covid-19; the effects of crisis situations on institutions
Numerical and algorithmic governance
Global rankings and their effects on global policy scripts and national policies; ideas and policy prescriptions of human-centric AI and algorithmic transparency; human and non-human agency in automated governance and its perceived legitimacy
Knowledge governance and human capital
Shifting ideas of higher education; ideas and policy scripts of global talent competition and migration; human-centricity as a policy idea; institutional trust