LIST OF PANELS

Computer-based modeling, simulation, scenarization and algorithms are fast entering the realm of public policy-making, as growing calculation power of computers and the availability of “big data” dramatically increase the capacity to model, and thus to simulate, visualize, anticipate, build scenarios or predict. Crime and social unrest, toxicity, energy production and consumption or climate change and sustainability questions are examples of domains in which models developed by scientists and administrations feed into global, national and regional policy-making. In this sense, modeling and simulations represent technical innovations in governance and public action. To analyze these developments, we propose to build on insights, methods and concepts from public policy analysis, science and technology studies (STS), and the (new) political sociology of science.   The objective of the panel is to investigate, first, in which domains and to what extent public policy-making has become prone to computer-based modeling, scenarization and simulation. Second, we aim to assess the nature of the changes these new practices create in public policy-making. Third, we ask if and how these techniques are becoming the object of specific forms of public regulation (e.g. emergence of a “governance of public simulation"). We propose three axes of inquiry: - Production. How and where are policy-relevant models, scenarios and algorithms produced? Is there a "market" for models? Proposals in this axis will study scientists, experts, particular industries, administrations or companies, look into the competition between those actors and their relationships with public decision-making. - Public Policy. How are these tools used in public decision-making? What transformations do we see (or not) in decision-making? Proposals in this axis will study governmental bodies, agencies, international organizations, etc., to track evolutions in the types of knowledge used, changes in decision-making procedures, modes of organization, and outside communication. - Public Debate and Civil Society. How do models and simulations circulate in the public sphere, spur debates and provoke controversy? Proposals in this axis will focus on an analysis of the public space, mobilizations and controversies, to 1) track resistance to new forms of public policy-making based on modeling or simulation, and 2) see to what extend social movements or NGOs use models and simulations to back their claims.

Computer-based modeling, simulations, scenarization and algorithms are fast entering the realm of public policy making (Armatte et Dahan, 2014, Scheer, 2013, Hourcade, 2007, Kwa, 1994). To be sure, experts advising governments in various domains have long been using models and modeling techniques, in the simple sense of the creation of systems of elements that are logically or formally related to one another. The availability of “big data” and the growing calculation power of computers, however, are dramatically increasing the capacity to model and thus to simulate, visualize, anticipate, build scenarios or predict. Crime and social unrest (Brantingham et Brantingham, 2004), toxicity (Andersen et al., 1995), energy production and consumption (Hourcade et al., 2006), or climate change (Guillemot, 2014, Edwards, 2010) and sustainability questions (Garb et al., 2008, Vieille-Blanchard, 2007) are domains in which models developed by scientific communities and public administrations feed into global, national and regional policy-making. In this sense, modeling and simulations represent technical innovations in governance and public policy-making. To analyze these developments, we propose to build on insights, methods and concepts from public policy analysis, science and technology studies (STS) (Jasanoff et al., 1995), and the (new) political sociology of science (Frickel et Moore, 2006, Bonneuil et Joly, 2013) In fact, there has been an ongoing trend in recent years to apply methods and concepts developed in the analysis of laboratory work, innovation and sociotechnical controversies to the political and legal domain (Jasanoff, 2004, Voß, 2007). At the same time, important strands of political science have become increasingly aware of the cognitive, discursive and material dimension of policy making, the importance of expertise processes and the constitutive role of methods, instruments, and devices in political practice (Palier et Surel, 2005, Lascoumes et Le Galès, 2007, Sabatier, 2007). Productive encounters between scholars currently engaging in such research trends need to be encouraged.   The objective of the panel is to investigate, first, in which domains and to what extent public policy-making has become prone to technological innovation in the form of computer-based modeling, scenarization and simulation. Second, we aim to assess the nature of the changes that these types of modeling create in public policy-making (changes in the types of actors involved, relationships between them, practices and routines in the administration, status of knowledge and evidence-based policy, modes of public intervention, etc.). Third, if and how these techniques are becoming the object of specific forms of public regulation (do we see the emergence of a “governance of public simulation" or of algorithms like there is, for example, a governance of public statistics?)   Responses to these questions can be found, we suggest, through the study of a) the production of computer-based modelling, simulation and scenarization, b) its use in public policy, and c) its impact in public debate. Production. How and where are policy-relevant models, scenarios and algorithms produced? Is there a "market" for models? Proposals in this axis will study scientists, experts, particular industries, administrations or companies. They will also look into the competition between those actors and their relationships with public decision-making. Public Policy. How are these tools used in public decision-making? What transformations do we see (or not) in decision-making? Proposals in this axis will study governmental bodies, agencies, international organizations, etc., to track evolutions in the types of knowledge and expertise used, changes in decision-making procedures, modes of organization, and relationship of public organizations with their audiences and interest groups. Public Debate and Civil Society. How do scenarios, models and simulations circulate in the public sphere, spur debates and provoke controversy? How are they taken up by social movements and civil society actors? Proposals in this axis will focus on an analysis of the public space, mobilizations and controversies, to 1) track resistance to new forms of public policy-making based on modeling or simulation, and 2) see to what extend these tools provide new arguments for social movements, NGOs or (other) interest groups.