Expert Knowledge in Democracies
Promises, Limits, and Conflict
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12463551 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eduardo Dargent Bocanegra (0000-0002-1844-246X, 1Social Sciences Department, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Peru; email: [email protected], corresponding author), Gabriela Lotta (0000-0003-2801-1628, 2Fundação Getulio Vargas, Sao Paulo, Brazil; email: [email protected]) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 115-132 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Annual Review of Political Science (BOOK_SERIES) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2939 • E-ISSN: 1545-1577 |
| Publisher | Annual Reviews (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1146/annurev-polisci-033123-020420 |
| OpenAlex | W4406750106 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 66 |
The article reviews recent literature on bureaucratic experts as political actors in democracies, with a focus on their complex, sometimes conflictive relationships with politicians. First, we present the central promises of expertise for democratic governance: its alleged objectivity, responsiveness to the common good, and effectiveness. Then, we look into two criticisms of this optimistic and apolitical view: Expertise is neither as unbiased nor as effective as claimed. Building on a more political understanding of experts’ power in democracies, we then discuss two topics that illustrate experts’ relationships with politicians: ( a ) the conditions and political dynamics that cause changes in technical policy areas’ influence, preferences, and institutional arrangements (or even experts’ demise) and ( b ) how challenging experts’ power is for democracy and elected politicians. We conclude with suggestions for future research and a call to find more common ground between the literatures focusing on experts and politics
Democracy · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Public Administration · Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
Against the Technocrats
CHAPTER THREE. The State as Problem and Solution
The Role of Experts in the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Limits of Their Epistemic Authority in Democracy
Talk like an expert
The Rise and Fall of Virata’s Network
Technocracy and Economic Decision-Making in Southeast Asia
The Epistemics of Policymaking
Boom times for technocrats? How environmental consulting companies shape mining governance
Populism versus Technocracy? Populist Responses to the Technocratic Nature of the EU
Populists and Technocrats in Latin America
Technocratic Populism in Italy after Berlusconi
Experts in Government
A Marriage of Convenience
The Limits of EUropean Legitimacy
Technocracy and the Tragedy of EU Governance
When bargaining is and is not possible
Populism and technocracy
Who wants technocrats? A comparative study of citizen attitudes in nine young and consolidated democracies
Austerity discourses in Europe
From Socialists to Technocrats
Politicians, technocrats and public officials as privatisation actors in Greece
The impact of decision-making on conflict
Populism and Public Administration
Opposites But Similar? Technocracy and Populism in Contemporary European Democracies
Mexico and Argentina
Toward More “Evidence‐Informed” Policy Making
When bureaucratic expertise comes under attack
Will vs. Reason
Maybe It Is Time to Rediscover Technocracy? An Old Framework for a New Analysis of Administrative Reforms in the Governance Era
Breaking the Parliamentary Chain of Delegation
From a Deficit of Democracy to a Technocratic Order
People Haven't Had Enough of Experts
Europeanisation, Independent Bodies and the Empowerment of Technocracy
Commitment or expertise? Technocratic appointments as political responses to economic crises
From the rule of law to the rule of rules
Going technocratic? Diluting governing responsibility in electorally turbulent times
Technocratic attitudes
"Power, Expertise and the "Tecnico
Technocracy in the Era of Twitter
Technocracy, the market and the governance of England's National Health Service
Expert knowledge and policymaking
Behind the technocratic challenge
Contingent technocracy
Transactional Authority and Bureaucratic Politics
The Politics of Common Knowledge
Defining and classifying technocrat‐led and technocratic governments
Dodging the bullet
The Politics of Central Bank Independence
Merging the Modern and the Traditional
When Technocratic Appointments Signal Credibility
Partisan Technocrats
Whither Clientelism? Good Governance and Brazil's Bolsa Família Program
The Merits of Problem-Solving over Powering
Bureaucrats as Modernizing Brokers? Clientelism in Colombia
Escaping the Zero-Sum Scenario
Do technocrats boost the acceptance of policy proposals among the citizenry? Evidence from a survey experiment in Italy
A Plague on Politics? The Covid Crisis, Expertise, and the Future of Legitimation
Political Control and Bureaucratic Resistance
Water Citizenship
Misrule of experts? The financial crisis as elite debacle
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |