Democracy and Expertise

Reorienting Policy Inquiry
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-19-928283-8
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 690 g

This book examines the role of policy expertise in a democratic society. From the perspectives of both political theory and policy studies, the chapters explore the implications of deliberative democratic governance for professional expertise and extends them to specific policy practices. Following the lead of John Dewey, the discussion focuses in particular on the ways professional practices might be reoriented to assist citizens in understanding and discussing the
complex policy issues of an advanced technological society. In doing so, it also explores how public deliberation can be improved through more cooperative forms of policy inquiry.

Adopting a deliberative-analytic approach, policy inquiry is grounded in a postempiricist, constructivist understanding of inquiry and knowledge and the participatory practices that support it. Toward this end, the chapters draw on thriving theoretical and practical work dedicated to revitalizing the citizen's role in both civil society and newer practices of democratic governance, in particular deliberative democracy in political theory, practical work with deliberative experiments, the
theory and practices of democratic governance, and participatory research. Deliberative practices are promoted here as a new component part of policy-related disciplines required for participatory governance. Calling for a specialization of "policy epistemics" to advance such practices, the second half of
the book takes up issues related to deliberative empowerment, including the relation of technical and social knowledge, the interpretive dimensions of social meaning and multiple realities, the role of narrative knowledge and storylines policy inquiry, social learning, tacit knowledge, the design of discursive spaces, and the place of emotional expression in public deliberation.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Fischer, Frank

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Umwelt- und Gesundheitspolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Methodenlehre
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltpolitik, Umweltprotokoll

Über Autor(innen)

Professor Fischer teaches Political Science at Rutgers University and is a member of the University's E. J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. He also teaches environmental policy and policy analysis at the Center for Global Change and Governance at Rutgers and is a senior faculty research fellow in the program in global political economy University of Kassel in Germany.

His research interests center around American politics and public policy (domestic and foreign policy), environmental politics and policy (US and global), policy analysis, public administration and planning, theory, and methods of the social sciences, comparative public policy, science and technology policy, democratic political theory, and the theory of the state.