LIST OF PANELS

Much of what we learn through the media and other sources about politics, economics, history, environmental and health issues originates in specialized expert knowledge. In the context of democratic societies, the questions of how this knowledge is produced, used and channeled into politics and how it influences policymaking have been studied extensively from a variety of theoretical and methodological angles (e.g., Abelson and Rastrick 2021; Boswell 2008; Christensen 2020; Góra, Holst and Warat 2018; Pfister and Horvath 2014; Rich 2004; Schlaufer, Sager and Stucki 2018; Stone 2013). The field has experienced further boost of scholarly interest during the global crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Challenging state capacities to protect public health and simultaneously preserve public security and economic stability, the crisis has become a catalyzer of policymakers’ reliance on scientific evidence and expert knowledge worldwide. Despite this development, we still know little about the origins and contents of expert knowledge as well as its communication channels and effects on public policies in authoritarian and hybrid political environments.

This panel’s main objective is to address this gap systematically. It seeks to bring together papers using distinct conceptual and methodological lenses to shed light on ontological and epistemological questions of studying expert knowledge and policymaking in illiberal environments. The questions central to this panel are:

-          How can we conceptualize the role of experts and expert knowledge in policy processes in authoritarian and hybrid political settings?

-          Who are considered to be influential experts in such settings?

-          How can we study their influence/impact on policymaking? What conceptual and methodological tools can we use to operationalize and measure their influence?

-          How is expert knowledge channeled to policymakers and the broader public?

-          What interaction effects can we observe between different groups of experts, policymakers, media and the public beyond liberal democracies?

-          (How) Is studying expert knowledge in illiberal settings different from democratic contexts?

By cumulating insights into the above questions, this panel seeks to advance our understanding of how expert knowledge “works” and how we can study it beyond liberal policymaking environments.

References

Abelson, D. E. and Rastrick, C. J. (Eds.) (2021) Handbook on Think Tanks in Public Policy. Cheltenham: EE Publishing.

Boswell, C. (2008) The Political Functions of Expert Knowledge. Journal of European Public Policy, 15(4), 471-488.

Christensen, J. (2021) Expert Knowledge and Policymaking: A Multi-disciplinary Research Agenda. Policy & Politics 49(3), 455-471.

Góra, M., Holst, C. and Warat, M. (Eds.) (2018) Expertisation and Democracy in Europe. Abingdon: Routledge.

Pfister, T. and Horvath, A. (2014) Reassessing Expert Knowledge and the Politics of Expertise. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research 27(4), 311-316.

Rich, A. (2004) Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schlaufer, C., Sager, F., & Stucki, I. (2018) The Political Use of Evidence and Its Contribution to Democratic Discourse. Public Administration Review 78(4), 645-649.

Stone, D. (2013) Knowledge Actors and Transnational Governance: The Private-Public Policy Nexis in the Global Agora. London: Palgrave.

In the context of democratic societies, the questions of how expert knowledge is produced, used and channeled into politics and how it influences policymaking processes have been studied extensively from a variety of theoretical and methodological angles. The emerging literature delving into these questions beyond liberal democratic settings remains comparably scarce. We still know little about the origins and contents of expert knowledge as well as its communication channels and effects on public policies in authoritarian and hybrid political environments.

This panel aims to address this gap systematically. It seeks to bring together papers using distinct conceptual and methodological lenses to shed light on ontological and epistemological questions of studying expert knowledge and policymaking in illiberal environments. We would particularly welcome papers tackling one or more of the following questions:

-          How can we conceptualize the role of experts and expert knowledge in policy processes in authoritarian and hybrid political settings?

-          Who are considered to be influential experts in such settings?

-          How can we study their influence/impact on policymaking? What conceptual and methodological tools can we use to operationalize and measure their influence?

-          How is expert knowledge channeled to policymakers and the broader public?

-          What interaction effects can we observe between different groups of experts, policymakers, media and the public beyond liberal democracies?

-          (How) Is studying expert knowledge in illiberal settings different from democratic contexts?

We invite original theoretical and empirical contributions addressing the above (non-exhaustive list of) questions, including single case explorations, comparative and large-N studies as well as conceptual and methodological reflections. Preference will be given to papers seeking to introduce innovative (theoretical and methodological) approaches. We strive for the diversity of the panel in terms of gender, ethnicity, countries of origin, and academic seniority of the contributors.