Why not epistocracy? Political legitimacy and ‘the fact of expertise’ (EPISTO) is a five-year research project which examines and assesses the legitimacy of expert rule in modern democracies, with a particular focus on the European Union and the European Commission’s expert groups.
This report is based on the proceedings of EPISTO’s kick-off conference that took place in Oslo in April 2013. The contributions in this report are multifaceted and interdisciplinary and range from chapters on normative political theory to analyses of the role of experts in specific policy fields.The contributions follow three main themes: expert-rule and democratic legitimacy, the role of knowledge and expertise in EU governance, and the European Commission’s use of expertise.
In addition to the editor and project coordinator of EPISTO, Cathrine Holst, the report has contributions by Marion Dreyer, Beate Elvebakk, Robert Evans, Lucy Hatton, Karin Jønch-Clausen, Klemens Kappel, Silje Aambø Langvatn, Julia Metz, Anders Molander, John R. Moodie, Alfred Moore, Espen D.H. Olsen, Christoph Ossege, David Budtz Pedersen, Ortwin Renn, Marianne Riddervold, Hans-Jörg Trenz, and Anthony R. Zito.
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ARENA Report No 1/14
Expertise and Democracy
Cathrine Holst (ed.)
February 2014