When Science Meets Power

By: Geoff Mulgan(Author)

261 pages

Publisher: Polity

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ISBN: 9781509553068 Hardback Nov 2023 Not in stock: Usually dispatched within 1 week
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About this book

Science and politics have collaborated throughout human history, and science is repeatedly invoked today in political debates, from pandemic management to climate change. But the relationship between the two is muddled and muddied. Leading policy analyst Geoff Mulgan here calls attention to the growing frictions caused by the expanding authority of science, which sometimes helps politics but often challenges it.

He dissects the complex history of states' use of science for conquest, glory and economic growth and shows the challenges of governing risk – from nuclear weapons to genetic modification, artificial intelligence to synthetic biology. He shows why the governance of science has become one of the biggest challenges of the twenty-first century, ever more prominent in daily politics and policy.

Whereas science is ordered around what we know and what is, politics engages what we feel and what matters. How can we reconcile the two, so that crucial decisions are both well-informed and legitimate? The book proposes new ways to organise democracy and government, both within nations and at a global scale, to better shape science and technology so that we can reap more of the benefits and fewer of the harms.

Introduction: The science-politics paradox

PART I. How Science Meets Power
Chapter 1. Uneasy interdependence
Chapter 2. What is science and how does it connect to power?

PART II. How States Have Used Science
Chapter 3. The ages of techne and episteme
Chapter 4. Science bites back
Chapter 5. The scientist's view of politics as corruptor

PART III. The Problem of Truths and Logics
Chapter 6. Master, servant and multiple truths
Chapter 7. Clashing logics

PART IV. The Problem of Institutions: Solving the Science-Politics Paradox
Chapter 8. Split sovereignty, or the role of knowledge in corroding the supremacy of politics
Chapter 9. Democracy meets science
Chapter 10. The flawed reasoning of democracy and its remedies

PART V. The Problem of Scales: Borderless Science in a World of Borders
Chapter 11. The clash between global and national interest
Chapter 12. Governing global science and technology

PART VI. The Problems of Meaning: Synthesis, Wisdom and Judgement
Chapter 13. Science, synthesis and metacognition
Chapter 14. The dialectics of what is and what matters

Customer Reviews

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Biography

Geoff Mulgan is Professor in STEaPP (Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy) at University College London

By: Geoff Mulgan(Author)

261 pages

Publisher: Polity

Media reviews

"In this groundbreaking book, Geoff Mulgan masterfully dissects the complex dance between science, technology, and power, exposing perilous gaps in oversight. With practical idealism, Mulgan lights a path toward aligning humanity's scientific powers with our common hopes through politicizing science and scientizing politics. Essential reading for all who care about steering technology for the greater good, When Science Meets Power brims with radical insights to fuse the strengths of science and democracy."
– Azeem Azhar, author of The Exponential Age

"With his acute practitioner's lens, Geoff Mulgan has written a timely, provocative yet constructive exploration of the nexus between modern science and the institutions of power and democracy. He highlights the need for a new mindset and new institutions if science is to effectively impact on local and global challenges. An important read for all those interested in how the relationships between politicians, bureaucracies and science need to evolve."
– Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council, and former President of the International Network of Government Science Advice

"A great contribution to the science policy debate! Science Meets Power describes many of my daily experiences, offering stories and examples to back its rigorous and surprising analyses. Mulgan makes a plea for an intelligence about intelligence, proposing 'knowledge commons' in which the logic of the scientist, the logic of the politician and the logic of the bureaucrat can interact in constructive ways. A must read for anyone involved in policy-making for science or in science for policy-making. And a good read too [...] "
– Caroline Nevejan, Chief Science Officer, City of Amsterdam

"I have always said that technology alone can't solve our political problems. Geoff Mulgan shows us how we got to a point where science and politics seem increasingly at odds – and how we can come to a healthier understanding of the role of science to inform policy."
– Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chair of Google

"This engaging book [...] is packed with wisdom and is written with a deep analytical prowess"
– Nature

"Readable and thought-provoking [...] science and power are entwined, and When Science Meets Power provides valuable insights into how we can make the relationship more effective."
– The Biologist