贡献者还是中间人:中央部门在创新政策网络治理中的角色--一项1980—2019年的实证研究

Contributor or Broker:The Role of the Central Department in the Governance of Innovation Policy Network:An Empirical Study from 1980 to 2019

文章运用政策网络理论和社会网络分析(social network analysis,SNA)方法,对1980—2019年基于中国650份创新政策文本构建的中央政府部门合作网络进行实证研究,考察中央政府部门在创新政策网络中的角色演变。研究结果表明:首先,随着行政体制的改革,中央政府部门在创新政策网络中既承担了贡献者又承担了中间人角色,且在创新政策网络中扮演贡献者和中间人的意愿呈上升趋势。其次,中央政府创新政策网络中,主要科技型部门的中间人角色已经逐步从代理人转变为联络人和顾问,经济型部门的中间人角色变化不明显,主要是代理人、顾问和联络人并存。最后,中央政府创新政策网络的治理主体正在实现多样化,越来越多的政府部门参与创新政策制定;治理主体间合作正在实现多样化,科技型部门的跨类型合作显著增加,经济型部门的角色稳定,其他类型部门合作范围逐步扩大,这些都充分说明了国家科技创新治理体系正在向现代化方向转变。

China has established a state-led innovation model.The government has played an important role in the development of China’s S&T,industrial upgrading and innovation in the last couple of decades.After several rounds of economic and technological system reforms,the central government has substantially adjusted the relationship between various agencies,but there are still problems such as department redundancy,functional overlapping,and responsibility fuzziness.Promoting the modernization of the national science and technology innovation governance system,and studying how to promote effectively collaboration between government agencies have become an urgent problem to be resolved in the reform of the administrative system.The research specifically aims to clarify one empirical question:what are the roles of government agencies in the innovation policy network?What are the specific categories of contributors or brokers in the whole network and the specific categories of brokers in the ego network?How do agencies’roles evolve with the change of policy networks at different stages?From the perspective of policy network,the research proposes a quantitative method based on social network analysis(SNA)and employs the approach to analyze 650 policy documents issued by China’s central government agencies between1980 and 2019.The quantitative method identifies the roles of government agencies as contributors and brokers in the policy network by degree centrality and betweenness centrality.The government agencies involving in innovation policy making are divided into four categories according to their functions in innovation:The S&T group,the economic group,the S&T mission-oriented group,and the supporting group.And four types of brokers-coordinators,agents,consultants and liaisons are identified.The database of policy documents related to innovation published by Chinese central government is built step by step(1980-2019).The results show that:first,with the reform of the administrative system,the central government agencies have played both a contributor and an intermediary role in the innovation policy network.And the willingness of agencies to play the roles of contributors and intermediaries in the innovation policy network has been on the rise.The scientific and technological group represented by the Ministry of Science and Technology(MOST),and the economic group represented by the Ministry of Finance(MOF)and the National Development and Reform Commission(NDRC)have played a quite important role in the formulation of innovation policies.Secondly,in the innovation policy network composed of central government agencies,the intermediary role of major technology-based agencies has gradually changed from an agent to a liaison and consultant.The intermediary role of economic agencies has not changed significantly,and the roles of agents,consultants and liaisons coexist.In the contributor-brokerage two-dimensional quadrant,generally only one agency is in the high-high quadrant,that is,the agency has a higher level of contribution and intermediary role.This leading agency has transformed from NDRC to MOST.Finally,the governance actors of the central government’s innovation policy network are diversifying,and more and more government agencies are participating in the formulation of innovation policies/The cooperation between governance actors is also diversifying.The cross-type cooperation of science and technology departments has increased significantly.The role of economic departments has remained stable.And the cooperation scope of other types of agencies has gradually expanded.And all these fully demonstrate that the national science and technology innovation governance system is shifting towards modernization.With the changes of their respective roles in the evolution of the innovation policy network,government agencies also need to constantly update their ways and strategies to participate in the policy network in order to meet their own interests.For agencies that occupy key positions in the network,such as MOST and NDRC,they should play a coordinating role and mobilize the enthusiasm of other agencies to participate in the governance of scientific and technological innovation,so as to improve the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of policy formulation.The agencies that lie on the periphery of the policy network also play an irreplaceable role in the governance of science and technology.They should actively participate in or seek inter-agency cooperation to enhance their administrative influence.