Expertisation and Democracy in Europe

This book provides a much-needed account of the role and re-organization of expertise and expert knowledge in Europe and the European Union (EU), in the context of recent and current crises and in a broad range of policy spheres. It brings novel perspectives to debates on technocracy and our understanding of the relations between knowledge, experts and democracy.

The book explores and assesses new and old linkages between knowledge, expertise and democracy, and expands and deepens the current debates by addressing questions such as: What is the role of expertise in Europe in times of crisis? How is knowledge of different kinds embedded in and decisive for democratic practice in contemporary democracies? How are we to assess recent transformations of the expert-citizens and government-civil society relationships from the perspective of democracy, and which paths are viable in the years to come? Finally the book engages with and gives flesh to the notion of expertisation as a broad political and societal diagnosis, but also as a multidimensional and deeply contested process that enfolds in concrete practices and institutional settings.

This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of European studies, European and European Union politics, democracy, public policy, international relations, sociology and media studies.

Magdalena Gora is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her main academic interests are processes of collective identity formation after the EU enlargement as well as changes in foreign policy and international relations in Central and Eastern Europe in the context of European integration.

Cathrine Holst is Research Professor, ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo

Marta Warat is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her main academic interests are feminist sociology and gender studies, gender equality in Poland and the EU, theories of citizenship and democracy, transformation of collective identities in contemporary Europe.