Expertisation And Democracy In Europe

Expertisation and Democracy in Europe provides a much-needed account of the role and re-organisation of expertise and expert knowledge in Europe and the European Union in a broad range of policy spheres, contributing to the debate triggered by the recent crises. It brings novel perspectives to debates on technocracy and our understanding of the relations between knowledge, experts and democracy. The book explores and assesses new and old linkages between knowledge, expertise and democracy, and expands and deepens the current debates by addressing questions such as: What is the role of expertise in Europe? How is knowledge of different kinds embedded in and decisive for democratic practice in contemporary democracies? How are we to assess recent transformations of the expert-citizens and government-civil society relationships from the perspective of democracy, and which paths are viable in the years to come? Finally, the book engages with and gives flesh to the notion of expertisation not only as a broad political and societal diagnosis, but also as a multidimensional and deeply contested process that enfolds in concrete practices and institutional settings. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European studies, European and European Union politics, democracy, public policy, international relations, sociology, gender studies and media studies.

Experts and Democratic Legitimacy challenges the technocratic reading of expert bodies, such as central banks, advisory committees and regulatory agencies. Expert contributors ask in what way expert bodies are subject to some of the key pressures in contemporary governance, such as democratisation, politicisation and expertisation. Based on empirical studies, the book traces the multiple social ties of expert bodies and refines the common perception of expert bodies as ‘de-politicised’ institutions that are detached from political interference and societal input. It further theorises the tension and reconcilability between reliable, independent expert knowledge on the one hand and the need for accountability and legitimacy in modern policy-making on the other hand. Refining the detached, de-politicised image of non-majoritarian institutions, Experts and Democratic Legitimacy will be of great interest to scholars of European studies, political and social theory, modern governance and policy-making. This book was originally published as a special issue of European Politics and Society.

Based on in-depth studies of the relationship between expertise and democracy in Europe, this book presents a new approach to how the un-elected can be made safe for democracy. It addresses the challenge of reconciling modern governments’ need for knowledge with the demand for democratic legitimacy. Knowledge-based decision-making is indispensable to modern democracies. This book establishes a public reason model of legitimacy and clarifies the conditions under which unelected bodies can be deemed legitimate as they are called upon to handle pandemics, financial crises, climate change and migration flows. Expert bodies are seeking neither re-election nor popularity, they can speak truth to power as well as to the citizenry at large. They are unelected, yet they wield power. How could they possibly be legitimate? This book is of key interest to scholars and students of democracy, governance, and more broadly to political and administrative science as well as the Science Technology Studies (STS).

It is widely believed that the European Union suffers from a democratic deficit. This then raises a fundamental question: can democracy ever be applied to decision-making bodies beyond the nation-state? How we conceive of democracy itself is essential to how we understand its deficit, and this book, with its impressive array of highly influential contributors, presents a theoretical approach which enables us to think of democracy at a supra-national level. Bringing together the ideas of major thinkers such as Bellamy, Habermas, Joerges and Schlesinge, Democracy in the European Union presents pioneering and original work on a key issue in contemporary politics. With in-depth analysis from high-calibre writers, this book is a unique contribution to debates about democracy and the European Union, for all upper-level undergraduate and graduate students of politics, European studies, democratic studies, and international relations, as well as professionals and policy-makers.

This book offers a concise and accessible introduction to debates about expertise, policy-making and democracy. It uniquely combines an overview of recent research on the policy role of experts with discussions in political philosophy and the philosophy of expertise. Starting with the fact that well-functioning democracies require experts and expert knowledge, the book examines two types of objections against granting experts a larger role in policy-making: concerns that focus on the nature and limits of expert knowledge, and those that concentrate on tensions between expertization and democracy. With this, the book discusses how expert arrangements can be organized to ensure the epistemic qualities of policies and democratic credentials, at the same time. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of political theory and democracy, public policy and administration, and to anyone interested in the role of expertise in society.

If the European Union applied to become a member of the European Union it would be rejected as undemocratic. Can the European Union foster greater democracy in Europe, and so protect the dispersal of power, personal freedom and the rule of law? Willit improve our shared lives and increase sense of being useful citizens? Rejecting both nostalgia for the nation state and thoughtless optimism, Larry Siedentop sets out to explore the practical implications of government on a continental scale. He draws on his expertise as an historian of liberal theory to produce an analysis of Europe's various political economies. In creating a framework for thought, this is sure to be a key work in the long deferred debate on Europe.

This book deals with the role of expertise and public participation in modern governance. It explores the relationship, tensions and compatibility of these increasingly important and partly conflicting sources of legitimacy and authority. By zooming in on the coordinated procedures of environmental policy-making in European consensus systems and by interconnecting theories of democracy, knowledge and science, organisation and decision-making, the author develops institutional solutions to the tensions between epistemic and democratic demands on public policy-making.

This book comprehensively reviews one of the most salient, ongoing debates at the heart of the European Union (EU) today: democratic reform.