Commissioned Book Review: Zeynep Pamuk, Politics and Expertise: How to Use Science in a Democratic Society
| Author | Oliver Dowlen |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299221118827 |
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Commissioned Book Review |
Political Studies Review
2023, Vol. 21(2) NP19 –NP20
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
Commissioned Book Review
1118827PSW0010.1177/14789299221118827Political Studies ReviewCommissioned Book Review
book-review2022
Commissioned Book Review
Politics and Expertise: How to Use
Science in a Democratic Society by
Zeynep Pamuk. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2021 (2022 UK). 256 pp., $35,
£28, ISBN 9780691218939.
Science and Democracy: A
Challenging Relationship
It is not often that we come across a book that
comprehensively identifies, addresses and
explores the very problems that are currently
affecting the daily lives of us all. Zeynep
Pamuk’s Politics and Expertise: How to use
Science in a Democratic Society (Princeton
University Press, 2021) is one such book. In the
midst of the ongoing controversies surrounding
issues like COVID, climate change and genetic
engineering (to name but a few), this contribu-
tion could not be more relevant or more wel-
come.
The essential premise of the work lies in a n
analysis of the widening interface between sci-
ence and democratic political practice. This
generates the understanding that if no attempt
is made to bring these very different spheres
of activity, knowledge and decision-making
together under a system of shared procedures,
aims and values, then the benefits of both could
be seriously compromised or eventually lost.
On one hand, the democratic process is deval-
ued when decisions that have the capacity to
affect the lives of millions are taken without full
transparency, scrutiny or accountability. On the
other hand, and in the face of this schism, genu-
inely valuable scientific work is likely to be
treated with scepticism, mistrust and even fear,
by the wider public.
This book is a genuine and thorough attempt
to bridge this gap, and the author undertakes the
daunting task in four main ways. She presents an
account of how and why these problems have
arisen; she undertakes a precise critique of
current procedures and arrangements; she puts
forward a series of principles through which we
can approach, analyse and evaluate the relation-
ship between science and democracy; finally,
she advocates conscious intervention through
new, specially designed, democratic institutions.
Throughout the work precise attention is
paid to the details of scientific methodology,
political procedure and moral principle; a clear
distinction is made between fact and value and
between knowledge and uncertainty; and a wide
range of examples is used to illustrate the con-
crete validity of the arguments.
One of the key aspects of this account is the
understanding that the post-war consensus based
on the division of labour between ‘neutral’ sci-
ence and value-laden political decision-making
needs to be re-thought. Lines of scientific inves-
tigation are not exempt from underlying values,
and these values surface with political and moral
significance as the research develops and is
cashed out into real-world projects. At this stage,
Pamuk argues, the weight of intellectual and
financial investment gives these values and
these projects an almost unstoppable momentum
– often despite uncertainty regarding their longer
term effects and implications. In response to
this, considered attention is given in the text to
the entire chain of scientific discovery and
development and to the key points in that chain
where political decision-making is needed.
The nature of scientific advice for govern-
ments and how that advice is presented and
received is the main subject of Chapter 3 and
the way in which public funds are allocated
for future scientific research is addressed in
Chapter 5. The argu ment here is that there
should be early democratic scrutiny of funding
proposals. This would allow a proper voice to be
given to dissenting opinions, both from within
the scientific community and from outside it. In
Chapter 6, this theme is further explored with a
detailed consideration of whether scientific pro-
jects should actually be halted in their early
stages on the grounds of the future risks these
might pose to the wider citizen community.
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