Participatory governance in knowledge-intensive fields. Reconciling epistemic and political authority in policy-making

• Applicant: Dr. Eva Krick
• Subject Area: Political Science
• Term: from 2015 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273761072

The study "Participatory governance in knowledge-intensive fields. Reconciling epistemic and political authority in policy-making" analyses the relationship and the tensions between expert knowledge and citizen participation in the policy process as two powerful, but partly conflicting sources of legitimacy. The leading question is: How do we reconcile the demands for expertise and participation in the modern policy-making? The study draws on theories dealing with knowledge and democratic participation within the fields of Social Epistemology, Science and Technology Studies and within Participatory and Deliberative Democracy as well as on selected empirical studies on the role of citizen inclusion and the use of expertise in policy-making. Against this background, the study analyses deliberative fora of participatory governance in Germany and the EU, where stakeholders and "ordinary citizens", representatives of the state as well as scientists and other experts with a mandate to advise governments engage in participatory knowledge production. The focus is on contested issues in the field of energy policy, which are both technical and knowledge-intensive and touch upon ethical or environmental issues and which therefore demand specialised knowledge and citizen inclusion at the same time. Examples of such issues are the technology of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") or the question of nuclear waste disposal. The first aim is to develop democratic theory by connecting it more thoroughly with theories of knowledge. The second aim is to suggest institutional designs of deliberative arenas that unite both recognised expertise and meaningful citizen inclusion and allow for widely accepted and effective policy solutions. For this purpose, the quality of expert knowledge and the quality of participation are analysed comparatively in empirical settings.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Norway
• Participating Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ; Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
• Host: Professorin Dr. Åse Gornitzka