A Normative Model of Politically Neutral Expertise

Abstract

Increasing interaction between science and politics requires analysis of the risks of science politicization. The author considers the threat of political control over the expertise and proposes a normative model which allows to avoid this threat. The author argues that the protection of the “hard core” of scientific rationality of expert’s activity is possible if the role of scientists is limited to the “technical” stage of the expertise (aggregation of scientific consensus on the problem). At this stage, the experts should make risks of the proposed strategies visible for public (the author calls this “risks externalization”). In turn, a decision on the compliance of the proposed strategies with the political interests of society should be made at the stage of open discussion. The author claims that separation of these two levels of expertise has the following advantages: (1) allows one to minimize moral and political pressure on experts; (2) makes it possible to involve all parties in the discussion, thereby neutralizing “privatization” of the public sphere; (3) allows one to aggregate distributed knowledge; (4) provides an opportunity for the distribution of responsibility among wider range of participants, thereby maintaining the democratic spirit in the community. The author criticizes the idea of “expert decisionism” and claims that it should be considered as an exceptional mode of expertise in extraordinary situation.