Open AccessMental Models and the Europe 2020 Strategy: Neo-schumpetarian Ideas in Innovation and Education
Author(s) -
Conrad A. King
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
review of european and russian affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1718-4835
DOI - 10.22215/rera.v7i2.217
Subject(s) - european commission , heuristics , globalization , political science , connection (principal bundle) , european union , sociology , economics , international trade , engineering , computer science , structural engineering , law , operating system
This article asks how ideas have mattered for the establishment of policy goals for the Europe 2020 Strategy. I argue that despite the specification of new environmental and social targets, the overall policy goals of Europe 2020 remain consistent with the 2000 Lisbon Agenda because the European Council and the European Commission have had resilient causal beliefs about the challenges of globalization, as well as the appropriate responses to these challenges. Using Alan Jacobs's theory of mental models and attention heuristics, this article describes the connection between neo-schumpetarian ideas and the policy outcomes of Europe 2020, particularly in the domains of innovation and education policy. Establishing this connection is an essential first step to explain precisely how ideas can determine and maintain the policy preferences of particular EU actors, a direction for future research.