When Science Meets Power

Science and politics have collaborated throughout human history and science is repeatedly invoked today in political debates, from pandemic management to climate change. Leading policy analyst Geoff Mulgan here calls attention to the growing frictions caused by the expanding – and unsolicited – authority being heaped upon science. As science increasingly competes with politics, a defined plan of cooperation is urgently needed. Mulgan outlines science and politics as two distinct, imperfect forms of collective intelligence. Whereas science is ordered around what we know and what is, politics engages what we feel and what matters. Politics functions because it recognises the limits of power, the need for delegation and expert advice. The intellectual logic of science, on the other hand, focuses on detail and depth, struggling to place its knowledge in wider contexts. The crux of the matter, Mulgan argues, is how can we ensure that crucial decisions taken in democracies are both well informed and legitimate? Rooted in understanding that science and politics are not just fields of ideas but also fields of action, this book proposes ways to ensure that the two work effectively together.