The Politics of Scientific Advice

Institutional Design for Quality Assurance

Justus Lentsch, Peter Weingart

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781107003705
• eBook ISBN: 9781139098212
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Controversies over issues such as genetically engineered food, foot-and-mouth disease and the failure of risk models in the global financial crisis have raised concerns about the quality of expert scientific advice. The legitimacy of experts, and of the political decision-makers and policy-makers whom they advise, essentially depends on the quality of the advice. But what does quality mean in this context, and how can it be achieved? This volume argues that the quality of scientific advice can be ensured by an appropriate institutional design of advisory organisations. Using examples from a wide range of international case studies, including think tanks, governmental research institutes, agencies and academies, the authors provide a systematic guide to the major problems and pitfalls encountered in scientific advice and the means by which organisations around the world have solved these problems.

Table of contents

• Cover
• The Politics of Scientific Advice
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Acknowledgements
• Biographical notes
• Part I Methodological issues: quality control and assurance in scientific policy advice
• Part II Collegial science advisory bodies
• Part III Collegial science policy advisory bodies
• Part IV Research-based advisory organisations
• Part V Academies of science
• Index