Innovation Policy in OECD Activities: A Historical Reconstruction on Neo-Gramscian Foundations

Abstract

The article offers a historical analysis of the formation and development of the concept of “innovation” in the discourse of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The theoretical and methodological foundation of the analysis is based on contemporary international political economy, which posits the necessity of considering international institutions as expressions of certain group interests. A characteristic feature of this approach is its reliance on the views of A. Gramsci, who argued that contrary to the original tenets of historical materialism, social processes do not arise as a direct realization of the interests of the ruling class but reflect compromises reached between it and other groups in society. Accordingly, examining the development of ideas about innovation from this perspective demonstrates that this process operates as a reflection of the converging interests of the scientific community, financial capital, and the electronics industry, forming a “historic bloc” that holds a stable position in Western society. Taking OECD documents as the subject of research, which acts as an influential center for policy development with characteristic features of both a political and scientific organization, allows for discerning traces of the historical bloc’s construction and its ideological shaping within these documents. The article traces the prehistory of the emergence of this bloc, the formation of compromises that bind its participants, and the construction of innovation policy as a way to express interests that have come to the forefront as a result of these compromises.