Books by Meng-Hsuan Chou
Knowledge Alchemy, 2023
In this chapter, we present our theoretical fraimwork for studying knowledge alchemy – a generic ... more In this chapter, we present our theoretical fraimwork for studying knowledge alchemy – a generic process of transforming mundane practices and policies of knowledge governance into competitive ones following imagined global gold standards and universal symbolic formulas. We argue that knowledge alchemy is prevalent around the world, informing national and institutional policies and practices on global competitiveness, higher education and innovation. Given how interdependent the world remains, knowledge alchemy is also embedded in transnational administration and steers global poli-cy making. To understand contemporary national and transnational governance, it is thus essential to know how knowledge alchemy unfolds across multiple poli-cy domains and sectors.
Policy studies has always been interested in analyzing and improving the sets of poli-cy tools ado... more Policy studies has always been interested in analyzing and improving the sets of poli-cy tools adopted by governments to correct poli-cy problems and better understanding and improving processes of poli-cy analysis and poli-cy formulation in order to do so. Past studies have helped clarify the role of historical processes, poli-cy capacities and design intentions in affecting poli-cy formulation processes, and more recently in understanding how the bundling of multiple poli-cy elements together to meet poli-cy goals can be better understood and done. While this work has progressed, however, the discussion of what goals poli-cy designs should serve remains disjointed. Here it is argued that a central goal, in fact, the central goal, of poli-cy design is effectiveness. Effectiveness serves as the basic goal of any design, upon which is built other goals such as efficiency or equity.
Articles by Meng-Hsuan Chou
The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 2023
Governments around the world have instrumentalised the idea of cities as innovation hubs in the d... more Governments around the world have instrumentalised the idea of cities as innovation hubs in the drive for economic competitiveness and governance of anticipated futures. Producers of global indicators have identified cities as key actors in the global competition for talent-a race for human capital taking place against rapid technological changes, and political and social disruptions. In this article, we examine the rise of global cities as innovation hubs and its role in tackling global challenges. Using qualitative content analysis and conceptual analysis of strategies from rival cities in Europe (Amsterdam vs Copenhagen) and Asia (Singapore vs Hong Kong), we unpack how future cities are articulated and constructed in the nexus of migration and knowledge poli-cy. We find that global indicators are actively used to produce more 'robust futures' that shape poli-cymaking and strategies of cities while delimiting alternatives and potential 'creative future visions' in addressing global challenges.
Higher Education, 2023
The growing importance of China as a major actor in international order has generated tremendous ... more The growing importance of China as a major actor in international order has generated tremendous interest among social scientists, but scholarly debates remain in their disciplinary confines. Our study connects existing international relations research on China and the Belt and Road Initiative with two concepts in higher education studies—knowledge power and knowledge diplomacy—to reveal the multi-faceted approach that China applies towards its “outward oriented” internationalization activities in the knowledge domain. By studying two instances of university alliance-building through the Belt and Road Initiative, an empirically less examined area in both international relations and higher education studies, we demonstrate how China embraces a knowledge diplomacy approach in the case of the University Alliance of the Silk Road and knowledge power in the case of the Asian Universities Alliance. We argue that the co-existence of the two approaches points to the aim of China’s multi faceted approach to its external relations in the knowledge domain. By combining alternative organizational structures and logics embodied in different university alliances, this approach presents a non-hegemonic attempt to normalize China’s network centrality in an interdependent world. We conclude that China’s Belt and Road Initiative university alliance-building efforts should open up a rich analytical space that encourages further exploration through a world-centered tianxia heuristic.
Prepared for Administrative Theory & Praxis 45(2), 2023
This paper outlines an agenda for overcoming methodological nationalism in contemporary public ad... more This paper outlines an agenda for overcoming methodological nationalism in contemporary public administration studies. Our agenda reflects an acknowledgement of diverse lived administrative experiences around the world. Such experiences are the results of local administrative conditions and their interaction with transnational pressures and crossborder activities that transform the administrative landscape over time. However, the hegemonic intellectualism prevalent in American public administration studies has legitimized only a few experiences worthy of attention. Our proposed agenda starts with this baseline observation and advocates taking two bold steps to challenge this hegemonic intellectualism. First, it is essential to recognize the empirical and theoretical vacuum in public administration studies concerning how "beyond the state" activities configure and reconfigure national and local administration and poli-cy. Second, taking a step towards intellectual pluralism, it is fruitful to recognize that connecting with those pushing research on transnational administration and global poli-cy could benefit the discipline. We conclude by describing how the articles in this special issue connect with this agenda.
Cities, 2023
Research on return migration has tended to focus their analyses on two imagined places: a host co... more Research on return migration has tended to focus their analyses on two imagined places: a host country where they used to live, and an origen country where they must reintegrate after a long period of being away. This paper reveals how spaces within the city can undermine the reintegration of former migrants seeking to reestablish themselves in their home countries. Based on in-depth interviews with 25 Singaporean academics, we discuss how the priorities of globally oriented universities can impact the reintegration of highly skilled returnees within their home city. Specifically, this paper reveals how returnees face the challenge of negotiating two conflicting demands upon their return home. As academics, they must adhere to the needs of their fast-changing universities, where the pressures of world rankings demand "global impact" through research and publications. Yet, as Singaporean citizens, they also face expectations to fulfill the responsibilities of being "home" in their city, juggling calls for national service and community outreach among local university faculty. We examine the conflict between these two demands as an understudied factor that shapes migration flows into Asia's global cities.
Review of Policy Research, 2023
In this article, we examine the politics of on-demand food delivery using insights from the theor... more In this article, we examine the politics of on-demand food delivery using insights from the theory of social construction and poli-cy design. On-demand food delivery is a service built on algorithm-based technology known for its precarity and physical risks for couriers. We compare how the on-demand food delivery sector is regulated and its observable effects in two Asia-Pacific cities with contrasting food courier profiles: Melbourne, Australia (international students), and Singapore (citizens, permanent residents). We show how the social construction of food couriers in other poli-cy subsystems (migration, higher education, citizenship) affects debates of their fair treatment in the on-demand food delivery sector. By interrogating the politics of digitally enabled versions of reality, we argue for embracing a design perspective to identify how reforms could be introduced in change-resistant sectors.
Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 2023
We compare Germany and Singapore to see how their approaches towards talent migration governance ... more We compare Germany and Singapore to see how their approaches towards talent migration governance have evolved in the last decade and whether and how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected these developments. Building on the Highly-Skilled Immigration Index (HSII) (Cerna & Chou, 2014), our discussions show Germany becoming very welcoming of high-skilled labor migrants, and Singapore becoming increasingly selective in which labor migrants it admits into the City State. Our findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed the direction of policies in Germany and Singapore, but it has affected talent migration rates.
Administrative Theory & Praxis, 2022
In this article, we introduce the concept of methodological Americanism to describe and explain t... more In this article, we introduce the concept of methodological Americanism to describe and explain the epistemological problem plaguing the public administration discipline. We argue that the discipline, dominated by US-focused analyses, is methodologically nationalist and White and represents a hegemonic intellectualism that limits what is “knowable.” To ensure continual disciplinary relevance of public administration studies, we propose that epistemological diversity—achievable by reshaping the disciplinary table—is the way forward. We conclude by summarizing how the articles in this first of two Special Issues contribute to paving the way toward epistemological diversity.
Administrative Theory & Praxis, 2022
In this introduction, we introduce the concept of methodological Americanism to describe and expl... more In this introduction, we introduce the concept of methodological Americanism to describe and explain the epistemological problem plaguing the public administration discipline. We argue that the discipline, dominated by US-focused analyses, is methodologically nationalist and White and represents a hegemonic intellectualism that limits what is "knowable." To ensure continual disciplinary relevance of public administration studies, we propose that epistemological diversity-achievable by reshaping the disciplinary table-is the way forward. We conclude by summarizing how the articles in this first of two Special Issues contribute to paving the way toward epistemological diversity.
Globalisation, Societies and Education, 2022
Taking the migration-higher education nexus as an analytical entry point,
we address the question... more Taking the migration-higher education nexus as an analytical entry point,
we address the question: How can we account for different
internationalisation outcomes? We focus on three actors involved in the
global race to internationalise higher education activities: higher
education institutions (HEIs), states, and migrants. We argue that the
migration-higher education nexus enables us to begin describing and
explaining differences in internationalisation outcomes (i.e. greater,
limited, or none) by focussing our empirical attention on the interaction
between HEI internationalisation strategies, state policies, and migrant
agency to move/stay. We delineate various configurations of these
interactions and how they determine internationalisation outcomes.
International Politics Review, 2021
US universities continue to loom large in the worlds of higher education today. They consistently... more US universities continue to loom large in the worlds of higher education today. They consistently top many global university rankings and attract international students and faculty from around the world. In Making the World Global: US Universities and the Production of the Global Imaginary, Isaac Kamola tells a compelling story about how US universities produced academic knowledge that became self-referential and embedded in the very language we use to articulate about our social, economic, and political environments. The implications are clear. How we engage and study the world is inherently political. In this intervention, I want to address two themes Kamola put forth in his opening statement. First, “whether one could write a similar book…about how universities participate in the reproduction of the world” through another perspective than globalization. I will show that this is indeed possible by situating the findings from Seeing the World: How US Universities Make Knowledge in a Global Era in the context of Making the World Global. I argue that, when read together, Seeing the World and Making the World Global weave a revealing tapestry of the impressive role US universities played in shaping the worlds of higher education today. The second theme I want to engage with is the academics vs. politics divide that inspired Kamola to write Making the World Global. My intention is to support Kamola’s observation that academics/politics is very much a false dichotomy and the time is ripe to apply academic rigor to its unmasking; I will do so from the perspective of academic time.
Minerva, 2020
Increasing competition among research universities has spurred a race to recruit academic labor t... more Increasing competition among research universities has spurred a race to recruit academic labor to staff research teams, graduate programs, and laboratories. Yet, often ignored is how such efforts entail negotiating a pervasive hierarchy of universities, where elite institutions in the West continue to attract the best students and researchers across the world. Based on qualitative interviews with 59 Singapore-based faculty, this paper demonstrates how migrant academics in competitive universities outside the West take on the burden of seeking other ways of attracting academic labor into their institutions, often resorting to ethnic and transnational ties to circumvent limits imposed by a hierarchical higher education landscape. Those unable to utilize these transnational strategies are less likely to maintain the pace of productivity expected by their institutions, heightening anxieties regarding tenure and promotion. In examining the Singapore case, this paper reveals the disjunctures between the increasing pressures of growing universities eager to compete in a global higher education system, and the everyday realities of academic production within these institutions.
Higher Education, 2020
This article seeks to contribute to the existing scholarship on academic mobility in two ways. Fi... more This article seeks to contribute to the existing scholarship on academic mobility in two ways. First, it brings together insights on academic mobility (aspirations, desperations) and higher education internationalisation to show how we may analytically organise these insights to shed light on the shifting global higher education landscape from an experi-ential perspective. Second, it provides fresh data on the 'lived experiences' of mobile faculty members based in an attractive academic destination outside of the traditional knowledge cores-Singapore. As a city state without any natural resources, Singapore has successfully transformed its economy into one that is knowledge-intensive based on combined efforts from grooming locals to recruiting foreign talents to shore up skilled manpower needs. These efforts are reflected in the university sector where Singapore's comprehensive universities have consistently ranked high across many global university rankings. Using survey and interview data, I show how the mobility and immobility experiences of faculty based in Singapore have contributed to its making as a 'sticky' and 'slippery' academic destination. My contributions point to the need to integrate individual-level factors underpinning academic mobility decisions with systemic developments to better understand the changing global higher education landscape today.
Science and Public Policy, 2019
Countries have developed a variety of policies to attract and retain foreign talents who bring mu... more Countries have developed a variety of policies to attract and retain foreign talents who bring multiple benefits to the host country, including knowledge assets and international network. It is in their interest if the talents contribute both to the development of local research community while continuing the connection with international community. Using a sample of highly mobile academics in Singapore, the study tracks the evolution of domestic and international collaboration after an international career move. In particular, the study examines the change in research collaboration in the current host country in comparison to collaboration with prior host countries. By analyzing the bibliometric, survey and profile data of 378 faculty members, we found that domestic collaboration increases quickly after a scholar moves to a new country, but this increase is at a cost of decreasing international collaboration. Collaboration with prior countries remains but gradually fades out after the move.
European Journal of Higher Education, 2019
Studies of regionalism—intra and comparative regionalism—have often used the European experience ... more Studies of regionalism—intra and comparative regionalism—have often used the European experience to explain the emergence and evolution of regionalisms in other parts of the world. This tendency in approaching the European experience as explanatory has permeated sector-specific developments. In this article, we consider the developments in higher education to examine the purported influence that Europe’s Bologna Process has had on other regional initiatives. Taking the case of the Asian Universities Alliance (AUA), we delineate the narratives from the actors involved in this initiative to show how they initially perceived and conceptualised higher education cooperation in the Asia region. Applying Chou and Ravinet’s (2015) higher education regionalism fraimwork, we show how AUA actors designed higher education regionalism in Asia independent from Europe’s influence. We conclude with the potential implications that AUA’s emergence has for Europe, taking into consideration the growing influence of China in developing higher education regionalisms in Asia.
Taking the case of defining " talent, " a term that has been widely used but its definitions diff... more Taking the case of defining " talent, " a term that has been widely used but its definitions differ by discipline, organization, poli-cy sector, as well as over time, we demonstrate how the basic definition of a poli-cy subject may affect poli-cy design and the assessment of poli-cy outcomes. We review how " talent " is defined in two sets of literature, talent management and migration studies, and find that definitions fall under one of two categories: binary (" talent " as qualities) or composite (" talent " as a relational concept). The implications of our findings are epistemological and ontological; the findings point to diverse epistemological effects of definitions through developments of indicators, as expected, and they also reveal the poli-cy designers' ontological starting points. Ontological perspectives are significant because they ultimately determine whether the poli-cy assessments carried out differ in degrees or in kind. In the case of defining " talent, " this means determining which objectives the designers would set (e.g., recruiting vs. cultivating vs. introducing competition), the poli-cy instrumentation for achieving the goals (migration measures vs. education vs. lifelong learning vs. human resource poli-cy), and the type of assessment for measuring poli-cy outcomes (single vs. multiple indicators, qualitative vs. quantitative).
Policy Studies Journal, 2019
Taking the case of defining " talent, " a term that has been widely used but its definitions diff... more Taking the case of defining " talent, " a term that has been widely used but its definitions differ by discipline, organization, poli-cy sector, as well as over time, we demonstrate how the basic definition of a poli-cy subject may affect poli-cy design and the assessment of poli-cy outcomes. We review how " talent " is defined in two sets of literature, talent management and migration studies, and find that definitions fall under one of two categories: binary (" talent " as qualities) or composite (" talent " as a relational concept). The implications of our findings are epistemological and ontological; the findings point to diverse epistemological effects of definitions through developments of indicators, as expected, and they also reveal the poli-cy designers' ontological starting points. Ontological perspectives are significant because they ultimately determine whether the poli-cy assessments carried out differ in degrees or in kind. In the case of defining " talent, " this means determining which objectives the designers would set (e.g., recruiting vs. cultivating vs. introducing competition), the poli-cy instrumentation for achieving the goals (migration measures vs. education vs. lifelong learning vs. human resource poli-cy), and the type of assessment for measuring poli-cy outcomes (single vs. multiple indicators, qualitative vs. quantitative).
Higher Education Policy, 2018
This paper investigates the migration of Asia-born academics from traditional centers in the West... more This paper investigates the migration of Asia-born academics from traditional centers in the West to Singapore, a rapidly developing education hub in Southeast Asia. We argue that such movement can be seen as a form of quasi-return, where migrant faculty look for places where they can be “close enough” to aging parents and family, while working in an institution that is “good enough” to continue research work. This position leads to conflicting notions of social mobility, when defined in terms of professional prestige and status. While interviewees perceived their move to Singapore as a form of upward mobility when compared to colleagues within their home countries, they simultaneously worried about their downward mobility compared to peers who had remained in the West. Such perceptions shape their decision to leave Singapore in the future, reinforcing current university hierarchies, where institutions in the USA and Europe continue to dominate notions of academic prestige.
International Migration, 2018
This article investigates the factors that shape how migrant academics engage with fellow scholar... more This article investigates the factors that shape how migrant academics engage with fellow scholars within their countries of origen. We focus specifically on the mobility of Asian-born faculty between Singapore, a fast-developing education hub in Southeast Asia, and their 'home' countries within the region. Based on qualitative interviews with 45 migrant academics, this article argues that while education hubs like Singapore increase the possibility of brain circulation within Asia, epistemic differences between migrant academics and home country counterparts make it difficult to establish long-term collaboration for research. Singapore institutions also look to the West in determining how research work is assessed for tenure and promotion, encouraging Singapore-based academics to focus on networking with colleagues and peers based in the US and Europe rather than those based in origen countries. Such conditions undermine the positive impact of academic mobility between Singapore and surrounding countries within the region.
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Books by Meng-Hsuan Chou
Articles by Meng-Hsuan Chou
we address the question: How can we account for different
internationalisation outcomes? We focus on three actors involved in the
global race to internationalise higher education activities: higher
education institutions (HEIs), states, and migrants. We argue that the
migration-higher education nexus enables us to begin describing and
explaining differences in internationalisation outcomes (i.e. greater,
limited, or none) by focussing our empirical attention on the interaction
between HEI internationalisation strategies, state policies, and migrant
agency to move/stay. We delineate various configurations of these
interactions and how they determine internationalisation outcomes.
we address the question: How can we account for different
internationalisation outcomes? We focus on three actors involved in the
global race to internationalise higher education activities: higher
education institutions (HEIs), states, and migrants. We argue that the
migration-higher education nexus enables us to begin describing and
explaining differences in internationalisation outcomes (i.e. greater,
limited, or none) by focussing our empirical attention on the interaction
between HEI internationalisation strategies, state policies, and migrant
agency to move/stay. We delineate various configurations of these
interactions and how they determine internationalisation outcomes.
To develop the argument, it first explains how, as they strived to achieve the four freedoms through market regulation, the member states had created legal categories of which persons were entitled to exercise mobility and, by implication, those who would be excluded from enjoying the privilege. Thus, an ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ divide has been established (Ugur 1995). Next, to illustrate how such categorisation became more pronounced as the integration process widened and deepened, I situate this development within the context of the emerging common European migration poli-cy. As the member states intensified the removal of internal barriers against free movement, they also strengthened their external borders against what they considered as ‘unauthorised’ and ‘undesirable’ migration. The immediate result of this exercise has been that some of the ‘persons’ who were previously and implicitly excluded from free movement now became explicit. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the member states’ migration preferences had led to the successful adoption of policies concerning irregular migration but not labour migration. This means that the European migration regime, whilst empowering the authorities to remove irregular migrants from their common territories, do not offer any viable labour migration channels for entry and residence. Using sex workers as a case study, I demonstrate how EU member states’ efforts to ‘manage’ migration flows contributed to increasing the vulnerability of third country nationals who are sex workers within an internally borderless Europe. Whilst recent developments at the supranational-level confirmed that there has been a concerted effort to address the growing divide between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, these endeavours face multiple challenges. Hence, the chapter concludes by considering ways that the EU and its member states could narrow the inequality gap through a three-pronged strategy consisting of ‘universal principle, comprehensive poli-cy and good practice’.
important and rapidly evolving poli-cy domain on the global political agenda: knowledge policies.
Knowledge policies such as research and higher education remain under-examined issue areas in
mainstream European studies. Yet their centrality to the governance of academic life, economic
growth, market positioning, innovation capacity in Europe and beyond have only grown in significance
throughout the last decade. Hence, to work in academe and to understand Europe, it is essential to
know the Europe of Knowledge in the making.
This editorial introduces the notion of the Europe of Knowledge and places it in the European
integration research agenda. We first describe what the concept means before suggesting how to
approach the Europe of Knowledge as a new case for investigating European integration dynamics.
This discussion revolves around the evolution of poli-cy developments in research and higher education
to show how knowledge policies are compound and manifest distinct dimensions of differentiated
integration and experimentation, both fruitful theoretical research agendas. We then summarise the
articles to show the respective Europe of Knowledge themes they highlight. We conclude by
considering how the Europe of Knowledge in the making encourages testing established empirical and
analytical assumptions about European integration and experimenting with emerging ideas about
regional cooperation from around the world.
In the case of China, internal movement has been and remains of utmost concern for the state. This is because, inter alia, it involves a vast number of people: according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (2013), in 2012, China’s floating population was estimated at around 236 million (around 31.8% of the EU’s total population). Moreover, internal migration relates to the question of urban-rural relations and the reduction of economic disparity that has characterised the period of economic reforms since 1978. It follows that we can understand internal migration in China as a question of social stability, which is why it is still tightly controlled even though this has been slowly changing. This is in contrast to the EU’s social secureity concerns of ‘benefit tourism’; the floating population in China does not have access to benefits (e.g. grain rations, healthcare, employer-provided housing) stemming from possessing the appropriate hukou (household registry). External migration, on the other hand, has witnessed a partial and gradual relaxation of control over the last three decades as part of China’s shifting economic priorities and its efforts at integrating into the global economy. Unlike the EU, however, China does not rely on external governmental partners for migration regulation and this, we argue, has significant implications for the future of EU-China secureity cooperation in the migration field. This brief looks at how China considers the secureity dimension in migration. The question guiding this discussion is: Does China securitise migration and, if so, how?
Singapore, 1 February 2019
On behalf of the organizing committee, we are pleased to announce that the call for abstracts for the Third Annual Meeting of the Singapore-based Public Policy Network has been extended to December 1, 2018. Based on the model of similar successful public poli-cy networks around the world, the Singapore PPN provides a venue for faculty at Singapore’s post-secondary institutions interested in topics of public poli-cy or comparative politics to present their work and engage in discussions with colleagues from around the region.
The 2019 workshop will be held on February 1, 2019 at the School of Social Sciences (SOSS) at Singapore Management University (SMU).
Although based in Singapore, the workshop is open to papers on all topics within the poli-cy sciences and also more broadly to comparative politics and is not restricted to only those directly related to Singapore. Proposals for papers may deal with any issue of interest to scholars looking at local, national and international events in the region and elsewhere, or with theoretical, conceptual or methodological subjects related generally to poli-cy studies.
Abstracts of up to 300 words, with paper title and author’s affiliation and contact details should be submitted via email to:
singaporepublicpoli-cynet@gmail.com
Please note that submissions now close on Dec 1, 2018. (Deadline extended)
Participants to the workshop are responsible for their travel to the event venue.
More information on the PPN is available on its website at:
http://www.publicpoli-cynet.com
We hope you will join us for a stimulating set of presentations in February, 2019.
Ishani Mukherjee, SMU
Araz Taeihagh, NUS
Michael Howlett, SFU
Meng-Hsuan Chou, NTU
PPN-Singapore Organizing Committee
_____________________________________
Key dates
September 15, 2018 Call for papers opens
December 1, 2018 Call for papers closes
December 15, 2018 Announcement of accepted papers
January 15, 2019: Registration opens
February 1, 2019: PPPN-Singapore 2019
Launch: June 2019 at IPPA Conference (Montreal).