Features of the current science policy regime: Viewed in historical perspective

This paper aims to throw into relief some of the general features in the development of the history of science policy by drawing attention to the continuation and deepening of old issues in new forms within the current science policy regime. The paper presents a typology which distinguishes different ways in which policy attempts to ‘account’ for public funding of science by showing how science contributes to wealth and prosperity. The paper concludes that the new forms of accounting place the focus of attention on what is ‘produced’ in science and that science policy itself has become dominated by the logic of globalism and new public management.