Institute for Developmental and Strategic Analysis
The Institute for Developmental and Strategic Analysis is a small, private, non-profit organisation specializing in basic (academic) and applied research across social sciences using interdisciplinary and multi-method approaches. Our colleagues come from various fields, such as sociology, political science, and cognitive science. We also offer consultation to governmental and non-governmental organisations and companies. IRSA has extensive international experience, including cooperation in Erasmus+ and Horizon projects.
The topics of our publications and research areas generally (but not always) derive from the sociology of knowledge and social studies of science and technology. Some examples are:
meritocracy and the role of experts in the so-called knowledge-based society, including the phenomenon of the post-factual society;
cross-national comparative studies on populism, social capital, and meritocracy, with a focus on disruptive polarization, state capture and corruption, disinformation, and mistrust in public discourse, including cognitive dissonance and conspiracy theories;
Citizen Science, in the context of social science tradition of action (participatory) research.
Some other topics that we have worked on also include:
democratic governance and participation, attitudes towards democracy, including topics such as social inequalities, exclusion and marginalization;
the rule of law, legislation, human rights and minority rights;
sustainable consumerism, the organic food market, organic farm tourism and sustainable development for nature conservation.
