Insights into Democratic Theory — and the Awareness Principle

Abstract

In the first chapters we explored the ‘objective world’ with factual issues, the social world with norms and values, and emotions which also have an impact on how we think societal issues should be handled. We then went through a number of case study areas relating to challenging issues that are subject to political decisions. In each we found how expert agenda setting can lead to a situation where the decision-making basis becomes illegitimate in the eyes of the public. Innocent experts following the old-fashioned paradigm try to convince decision-makers and the public with ‘neutral information’, believing that it will lead to ‘objective’ decisions. Moreover, experts, stakeholder groups and lobbyists act to fragment the scientific evidence and often keep the value-laden aspects hidden.