Van data tot dialoog. Wetenschap als legitieme en effectieve beleidspartner

This article examines how democratically legitimate and effective science advice can be conceptualized. Two fields of tension arise when democratic governments rely on scientists for policy advice, and both threaten the use of science in policymaking. The first concerns the democratic legitimacy of advice. Whereas scientific knowledge often serves as a neutral arbiter in policy questions because of its claim to objectivity and epistemic authority, it is not straightforward to balance science advice with other legitimate policy inputs without undermining the legislative authority of democratically elected governments. The second tension concerns the objectivity of science itself. On the one hand, the politicization of scientific knowledge may lead to a decline of public trust in the credibility of the sciences; on the other hand, the legitimate role of values in the internal stages of the scientific process remains a point of discussion among academics. Based on work by Douglas (2009), Kourany (2010), Schroeder (2022) and Freier (2023), I develop a three-step procedure to arrive at what I call socially responsible science advice: (1) co-constituting the value framework underlying the advice process, (2) evidence-synthesis by an epistemically diverse panel, and lastly (3) evidence-brokerage. I conclude by summarizing this procedure in five guidelines.