The Political Economy of Politics and International Studies Impact: REF2014 Case Analysis

Abstract

Debates about impact and relevance have long been a feature of British politics and international studies. Thanks to the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), we now have large-scale and comparable empirical evidence to animate and shape these discussions. Here, we present the first systematic analysis of the case studies. Using frequency data, we report the political economy of political science and international studies impact across four broad themes: who has what impact and when; impact’s beneficiaries; impact’s evidence base; and, generating and validating impact. Analytically, we comment on the findings using insights from disciplinary histories and knowledge utilisation literatures. We conclude by discussing the ramifications of our case analysis for the discipline.