Democracy as Inquiry, Inquiry as Democratic: Pragmatism, Social Science, and the Cognitive Division of Labor

Bohman, James

doi:10.2307/2991808

Cited by 115 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In Nepal's climate policy process experts have dominated, and there has been limited participation of the affected communities as citizens. Clearly, the opportunity for genuine dialogue between experts and communities has been missed, an aspect that has been seen as crucial in advancing democratic governance (Bohman, 1999).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Policy without politics: technocratic control of climate change adaptation policy making in Nepal

Ojha¹,

et al. 2015

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As developing countries around the world formulate policies to address climate change, concerns remain as to whether the voices of those most exposed to climate risk are represented in those policies. Developing countries face significant challenges for contextualizing global-scale scientific research into national political dynamics and downscaling global frameworks to subnational levels, where the most affected are presumed to live. This article critiques the ways in which the politics of representation and climate science are framed and pursued in the process of climate policy development, and contributes to an understanding of the relative effectiveness of globally framed, generic policy mechanisms in vulnerable and politically volatile contexts. Based on this analysis, it also outlines opportunities for the possibility of improving climate policy processes to contest technocratic framing and generic international adaptation solutions. Policy relevanceNepal's position as one of the countries most at risk from climate change in the Himalayas has spurred significant international support to craft climate policy responses over the past few years. Focusing on the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) and the Climate Change Policy, this article examines the extent to which internationally and scientifically framed climate policy in Nepal recognizes the unfolding political mobilizations around the demand for a representative state and equitable adaptation to climate risks. This is particularly important in Nepal, where political unrest in the post-conflict transition after the end of the civil war in 2006 has focused around struggles over representation for those historically on the political margins. Arguing that vulnerability to climate risk is produced in conjunction with social and political conditions, and that not everyone in the same locality is equally vulnerable, we demonstrate the multi-faceted nature of the politics of representation for climate policy making in Nepal. However, so far, this policy making has primarily been shaped through a technocratic framing that avoids political contestations and downplays the demand for inclusive and deliberative processes. Based on this analysis, we identify the need for a flexible, contextually grounded, and multi-scalar approach to political representation while also emphasizing the need for downscaling climate science that can inform policy development and implementation to achieve fair and effective adaptation to climate change.

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“…In the wider debate on sciencedemocracy links, much has been written about how the tension can be reconciled, through a democratic and transparent division of labour between scientists and citizens (Bohman, 1999;Fischer, 1993). Yet these policy debates have not been translated on the ground in the climate change arena in Nepal.…”

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Policy without politics: technocratic control of climate change adaptation policy making in Nepal

Ojha¹,

et al. 2015

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“…A closer examination of paradigmatic works across the whole tradition from Marx's Capital (1871) to the Frankfurt School's Studies in Authority and the Family (1939) and Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action (1982) reveals neither some distinctive form of explanation nor a special methodology that provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for such inquiry. Such a practical account of social inquiry has much in common with pragmatism, old and new (Bohman 1999a(Bohman , 1999b. As with pragmatism, critical theory came gradually to reject the demand for a scientific or objective basis of criticism grounded in a grand theory.…”

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confidence: 99%

Technology Education and Action Research: Two Complementary Processes to Capacitate Teachers

Mapotse

2014

MJSS

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“…The spectrum of deliberative approaches used in relation to health care issues includes national processes involving citizens in technology appraisal (Einsiedel, 2002), processes involving local residents in setting health care priorities 5 (Abelson et al 2003a;Pickard 1998), through to shared decision-making in patient encounters in general practice (Gwyn & Elwyn, 1999). Central to all these deliberative processes is the reconstruction of the relationship between epistemic claims and democratic accountability through face-to-face deliberation (Bohman, 1999;Pellizzoni, 1999;2001). A strong case is made for the power of communicative rationality as a basis for deliberative democracy in the work of Habermas (1984;, suggesting the over-weaning power of instrumental rationality may be confronted from alternative normative and substantive rationalities within deliberative processes.…”

Section: Deliberation Expertise and Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenging the ‘view from nowhere’: citizen reflections on specialist expertise in a deliberative process

Davies

Burgess

2004

Health & Place

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This paper presents analysis of citizen encounters with specialists in a deliberative process, called Deliberative Mapping, which explored options for addressing the shortage of organs for transplantation in the UK. There is a rich theoretical literature about the extent to which citizens are competent to question the knowledge claims of specialists in complex decision-making processes, suggesting the trustworthiness of scientific expertise will depend on the qualities of social interaction in face-to-face dialogue, but little empirical analysis of specific encounters. This paper presents evidence of how citizens located specialist expertise in making judgements about the legitimacy and credibility of specialist knowledge claims, in ways that reflect differences in epistemic procedures valued by the panels of men and women in this process.

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Democracy as Inquiry, Inquiry as Democratic: Pragmatism, Social Science, and the Cognitive Division of Labor

Cited by 115 publications

References 16 publications

Policy without politics: technocratic control of climate change adaptation policy making in Nepal

Policy without politics: technocratic control of climate change adaptation policy making in Nepal

Technology Education and Action Research: Two Complementary Processes to Capacitate Teachers

Challenging the ‘view from nowhere’: citizen reflections on specialist expertise in a deliberative process

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