How Peer Review Empowers the Academic Profession and University Managers: Changes in Relationships between the State, Universities and the Professoriate

Universities are expected to be important players in the development of knowledge economies; therefore,they are a priority on the policy agenda of the European commission and of member states. To understandthe new institutional settings where knowledge production is achieved, we must turn our attention toanalyzing the reforms underway.Building on conclusions from the sociology of professions, the sociology of organizations and publicpolicy analysis, this paper argues that the policy instruments developed by public authorities to measurescientific performance and selectively allocate resources rely on peer review processes and reinforce anacademic elite. As a result, the internal power distribution within the academic profession as well aswithin universities has changed.On the one hand, peer review is used as a managerial tool by universities. The decisions made at theuniversity level are largely based on (and legitimated by) evaluations conducted outside the universityby an elite sitting in research councils, editorial boards, and evaluation agencies.On the other hand, rather than weakening professional power, the recent reforms have instead led to areconfiguration of the academic profession. Their influence is twofold. First, they have empowered thoseindividuals who set the norms according to which academic activities are rewarded and funded by publicactors. Second, they bolster those who receive positive reviews, since they gain a stronger position tonegotiate with the managers of their university