Knowledge, Science and Expertise

Short Abstract The Knowledge and Governance Section provides a longstanding forum for research on the relationship between knowledge, evidence, and policymaking. It explores how expertise and evidence shape political decision-making, democratic legitimacy, and institutional change across governance levels. The Section invites panels and papers examining how science, expertise, and evidence interact with politics, addressing themes such as post-truth politics, democratizing knowledge, and the digital–green twin transition. Full Section Proposal The Knowledge and Governance Section provides a long-established forum for research on the relationship between knowledge, evidence, and policymaking. In a period marked by uncertainty, complexity, and transformation, the Section explores how expertise and evidence shape political decision-making, democratic legitimacy, and institutional change across different levels of governance. The Section invites panel and paper proposals from scholars examining the empirical and theoretical dimensions of knowledge and governance. It seeks contributions that advance understanding of how science, expertise, and evidence interact with politics, policymaking and governance in diverse institutional, geographical, and policy contexts. Indicative themes include: 1. The Use of Evidence and Science in Policymaking The governance of social and economic problems increasingly relies on the continuous production and use of scientific evidence and research. This trend has been especially prevalent in areas of policy characterized by risk and uncertainty where science and expertise are often vital to political and bureaucratic decision-making. Yet both the production of scientific expertise and its uses in the political context have raised important empirical and theoretical questions. Section Chairs invite panels in this area of empirical and theoretical research. 2. The organization and governance of knowledge and expertise within government The production and use of policy-relevant knowledge and expertise is increasingly embedded within organizational structures, routines and procedures of supranational, national and local levels of government. However, there is still little research on the consequences of such systematization and institutionalization of knowledge production and use. This section therefore invites panels that elucidate different ways or organizing knowledge and knowledge-generating processes within government as well as the influence of such organizational factors on how knowledge and expertise is (or is not) influencing policymaking and policy-implementation. 3. Evidence-Based Policymaking Across Networks and Institutions The Section invites panels on research which observes the organization of the science–policy nexus within and across epistemic communities, boundary organizations, and transnational knowledge networks, and study how such communities and organizations shape the institutionalization and circulation of knowledge and expertise. 4. The Twin Transition: Digital and Green Governance Panels are invited to explore how knowledge, evidence, and science inform the governance, regulation, and implementation of the dual (digital and green) transitions. The complex and ‘wicked’ problems arising due to climate change and new technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, generate increasingly complex, wide-ranging, yet intricate dilemmas and paradoxes. This section aims to stimulate a broader debate, and contributions can range from well-established studies to more explorative, novel, or emerging research. 5. Democratizing Evidence-Based Policymaking How can policymaking reconcile technocratic expertise with democratic participation? Contributions may address the inclusiveness, transparency, and legitimacy of evidence-based policy processes as well as the role of knowledge in shaping and transforming political regimes. In democratic governance, conflicts over knowledge are becoming as common as conflicts over interests and ideology, yet they continue to draw less research attention. How do different systems generate and legitimate expertise, and what tensions emerge between technocratic governance and democratic authority? The Section therefore invites panels highlighting current trends in the contestation of knowledge in democratic politics, from empirical and theoretical perspectives. 6. Post-Truth Politics and Epistemic Polarization Panels may examine the impact of misinformation, polarization, and populism on the politics of knowledge. Recent crises have forced us to confront questions of trust, authority, and the boundaries between science and politics. The counter-mobilization against science and evidence along new social, cultural, and political cleavages in modern politics also needs to be assessed. Section Chairs: Niklas Andreas Andersen