Epistemic Power Research Articles

Workplace investigations, the epistemic power of managerialism and the hollowing out of the Norwegian model of co-determination

Workplace investigations are increasingly being used in Norwegian workplaces in both public and private sectors to investigate allegations of misconduct, harassment, blameworthy conditions, and other breaches of the Norwegian Working Environment Act. Workplace investigations are often triggered by complaints submitted through internal organizational whistleblowing and ‘speak up’ systems. With the EU Whistleblower Directive, ISO 37002:2021 Whistleblowing Management Systems – Guidelines and the ISO/AWI TS 37008 Internal Investigations in Organizations under development, we witness further standardization of whistleblowing systems and investigative procedures within organizations. And yet, these systems have so far received little critical attention. Our in-depth qualitative analysis of 22 such cases within standard employment relationships, informed by extensive literature review, secondary data and case files, has revealed that workplace investigations escalated conflicts, negatively affecting whistleblowers, trade union representatives, safety representatives, and other critical and dissenting voices, and that these systems leave little room for trade union representatives, co-determination or collective approaches to conflict resolution. We argue that this cannot be merely attributed to botched or biased investigations that have failed to follow ‘best practice’ guidelines. Instead, these are by default inquisitorial processes: the employer funds the investigation, creates the mandate and acts as prosecutor, police and judge in one. We analyse these methods and their epistemic power in light of the increasing privatization and pluralization of policing within the context of regulatory capitalism and the ‘criminalization’ of compliance, arguing that such methods are an expression of larger phenomena that lead to the progressive hollowing out of co-determination and workplace democracy and justice, in Norway and likely elsewhere.

Sharing epistemic power: digitally mediated wolf monitoring in Finland

ABSTRACT Although digital tools have expanded opportunities for various social groups to participate in biodiversity research, these tools typically assign citizens tasks that make them mere assistants of professional researchers, thus maintaining conventional power relations in research processes. Problems may arise if power asymmetries and participant expectations concerning data and participation are neglected in contested situations—for example, in conservation or natural resource conflicts. In participatory wolf monitoring in Finland, participation itself has become a power struggle. The digital participatory tool enforces strict scientific criteria for data validity and constrains possibilities for citizens to use the data produced. This situation perpetuates rather than helps resolve the persistent conflict over knowledge regarding wolves. While preparing the latest wolf management plan, Finnish wolf policy stakeholders compared the digital tool used in Finland with another tool used in Scandinavia. This comparison enabled them to envision opportunities to reorganise collaboration and share epistemic power more equally. Such alternative wolf ‘data stories’ could be essential in finding a way forward in this polarised situation. Wolf ‘data stories’ demonstrate that even subtle changes in digital designs could make participatory architectures more responsive to multiple knowledge needs. These changes need not compromise the high quality of evidence required by authorities for public decision-making. This role aligns with the growing academic interest to envision and probe alternative techno-scientific practices, especially in Science and Technology Studies.

Eternal return of the dragon: discursive power trap and decolonial critique of international relations theory

The paper explores discursive power and related concepts (institutional power, normative power, epistemic power) as an important part of contemporary PRC foreign strategy. As Westphalian identity carries certain risks for Beijing, China is actively trying to reconceptualize its identity through the development of epistemic power, its main manifestation being the emergence of the Chinese IR school. China’s two main strategies of interaction with the Western IR theory are (1) transcending its parochiality through inclusion of Chinese concepts and research methods and (2) creating radical alternatives to Western IR theory. At a more fundamental level of theorizing about non-Western IR, the former strategy is broadly aligned with the project of “global IR” and the latter with a decolonial/postcolonial approach to IR. Decolonial hermeneutics allows for revealing the main shortcomings of “global IR” and the underlying epistemic culture, as well as for examining problems that arise from China's accumulation of discursive power. Based on the analysis, we can conclude that there are three potential strategies of the PRC: Westphalian discursivity, Westphalian discursivity with Chinese characteristics, and critical discursivity. The first two strategies can potentially lead China into the trap of discursive power: trying to resist Western discursive aggression through accumulation of discursive power, Beijing begins to internalize power structures and narratives inherent in the Western political model or romanticize alternative systems for the reproduction of power in imperial China, hence reinforcing international suspicions regarding its true intentions and taking a less advantageous strategic position. The paper proposes a number of ways out of this trap (development of cooperation with countries of the global South, interaction with their epistemic cultures, critical rethinking of modern Chinese concepts of international relations).

Introduction, Summary, Questions for the Future

Introduction, Summary, Questions for the Future

Patient engagement in drug development: configuring a new resource for generating innovation

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the recent interest in patient engagement (PE) in drug development, expressed in the growing number of calls for engagement, novel organizations dedicated to changing the culture of drug development, and guidelines for directing and evaluating PE. By reviewing materials produced by actors in the field and analyzing publications reporting on PE initiatives, I map sites of action where PE is being conceived and practiced, delineate how PE is being shaped, and analyze relationships emerging within and around the collectives involved. Pharmaceutical industry players actively mold the landscape of PE in drug development through creating tools and frameworks for PE. These instruments for guiding the implementation of PE are disseminated via training and dedicated events, concurrently disseminating a particular configuration of PE. PE emerges as an attempt to open new avenues for increasing productivity amidst concerns about the future of drug innovation, while PE practices fit smoothly into the arrangements for producing and distributing pharmaceutical knowledge largely shaped by the industry. The ongoing participatory turn in drug development is taking place without shifting the established concentration of epistemic power among commercial entities.

Note from the Editors

Welcome to the first issue of volume 51 of Politics & Policy (P&P)! This February our excellent articles cover a wide variety of topics in public policy, comparative international politics, democratic inclusion, and voting behavior. The first piece adds to the journal's previous outstanding articles on Latin American politics and policy (see e.g., Basabe-Serrano, 2012; Moreno & Witmer, 2015; Nohlen, 2009). Aguiar-Aguilar's (2023) insightful perspective on democratic backsliding shows how the judiciary has become a “chess queen” after the transition to democracy in many countries in the region. The author's systematic description of how incumbents capture the courts and then use them to subvert democracy collates regionwide comparative data before moving to in-depth illustrations of public attacks on the judiciary in Brazil and Mexico, purges in the judiciary in Bolivia and El Salvador, and court packing in Nicaragua. This excellent study underscores the role of high courts in democratic erosion, emphasizing the interactive pathway incumbents take in their quest to manipulate the courts and hoard democracy for themselves. In our second article this February, Vince (2023) uses the Multiple Streams Framework to examine how the crisis conditions underpinning the COVID-19 pandemic provided a window of opportunity for decision makers to reprioritize plastic pollution issues. She also shows that the crisis likewise created space for those against reducing plastic consumption (industrial stakeholders and policy entrepreneurs) to influence policy makers to alter their stance on plastic-related matters—even if only temporarily in some cases. Given the transboundary nature of plastic pollution, this study is timely indeed and provides a powerful addition to P&P's already full list of articles on environmental politics, policy, and its relation to crisis and response (see e.g., Gerlach et al., 2013; Neill & Morris, 2012). Next, we move to evaluating public health interventions where Atkin and others (2023) entreat the policy and academic communities to rethink quality-of-life perspectives concerning the experiences of disabled persons. In their exploration of how disability is represented by tools informing evaluative public health research, the authors argue that the customary quality-of-life measures used to evaluate health interventions are not straightforward heuristic devices. In fact, for the authors they express “technologies of epistemic power” that can be deeply exclusory. The article concludes with suggestions that could create more inclusive practices able to confront, and in some cases overcome, inequalities and discrimination. Our fourth article joins P&P's long and distinguished collection of studies on partisanship and voting behavior in the United States and beyond (see e.g., Grossmann, 2014; Reilly & Hedberg, 2022; Saeki, 2019). Reilly and Hunting (2023) contribute to literature on the independent voter, emphasizing that Independents' voting patterns are more volatile in terms of party loyalty, are decidedly unpredictable, and are more distinct from that of partisans than previously thought. Their findings confirm that, when tracked over multiple elections, independent voters in the United States move in and out of independent status. Next, Zimmermann and Kenter (2023) tackle democratic decision making and participative strategy development with a focus on contemporary environmental concerns (see also Brant et al., 2017; Bryson et al., 2008). Using the case of the England Peat Action Plan, the authors contend that tensions can appear between the initial framing of intended change, the persistence of stakeholders' different framings of it, and participants' perceptions of lacking knowledge, guidance, and control. The article contributes a new explanation of the difficulties in achieving major change through multi-stakeholder participation. And that explanation is especially relevant for confronting the complexities of contemporary environmental challenges. The last two articles this time focus empirically on development and different forms of inclusion across sub-Saharan Africa. Agoba and others (2023) explore how differences in literacy levels and political institutional quality can determine the impact of central bank independence (CBI) on financial inclusion. They find that, while CBI does not promote financial inclusion in Africa, financial literacy and political institutions do—which has important policy implications for price stability, employment, and economic growth. And finally, Nchofoung and others (2023) show empirically that gender political inclusion clearly enhances the quality of democracy in Africa—a finding the authors demonstrate is robust not only across alternative specifications of political inclusion and democracy but also when controlling for colonization and internal conflicts. Their arguments concerning the policy implications of the study suggest that gender quotas in every country in the region—whether imposed nationally or via signing a regional convention—would constitute an important aid toward more sustainable democracy promotion in Africa. We hope you enjoy the excellent original research articles in this issue of P&P and, as always, we look forward to your continued article submissions at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/polpol.

Fame and redemption: On the moral dangers of celebrity apologies

Fame and redemption: On the moral dangers of celebrity apologies

Representing disabling experiences: Rethinking quality of life when evaluating public health interventions

AbstractInterventions that promote public health have the potential to transform lives, particularly for those who experience disability, where marked social and material inequalities occur across the life‐course. When evaluating such interventions, health‐related quality‐of‐life is regarded as a primary outcome and used to inform evidence‐based practice. Quality‐of‐life measures, however, are not straightforward heuristic devices but express technologies of epistemic power. By prioritizing methodological certainty over the credibility of personal testimonies, those experiencing disability can find themselves excluded from the evidence base on which public health interventions are based. Our study explores how disability is represented by tools informing evaluative public health research and establishes the possibility of alternate practices, including the potential for more appropriate measures better suited to representing experiences. We conclude by considering how discussions about “flourishing” can create more inclusive and empowering practices able to challenge inequalities and discrimination consistent with a commitment to social justice.Related ArticlesEwert, Benjamin. 2021. “Citizenship as a Form of Anticipatory Obedience? Implications of Preventive Health Policy in Germany.” Politics & Policy 49(4): 891–912. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12421.Grijalva Maza, Luisa. 2012. “Deconstructing the Grand Narrative in Harry Potter: Inclusion/Exclusion and Discriminatory Policies in Fiction and Practice.” Politics & Policy 40(3): 424–43. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00358.x.Winburn, Jonathan, and Amanda Winburn. 2020. “The Role of Political Ideology in Public Opinion toward Enumerated Antibullying Policies in Public Schools.” Politics & Policy 48(3): 442–63. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12355.

Community, Authority, Power: Three times epistemic, but what fits the International Labour Organisation?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a well-known standard setting organization in the world of work. With its standards the ILO has created an epistemic community for labour law and social security law. Central to this paper though is the question whether the ILO is also an epistemic authority or even an epistemic power. To assess this, the main activities of the ILO are described in this paper. The descriptions are made against the background of the idea of discursive diffusion, which could be typified as governance technique to influence the policies or behaviour of the members of an epistemic community. In the conclusion it is argued that the ILO can definitely be qualified as an epistemic authority, and even holds some traces of epistemic power. However, most of the activities that could make up for the ILO’s epistemic power are executed in the ILO’s field offices. We know not enough about the modus operandi in those field offices, therefore further, preferably qualitative empirical research would be needed.

Visualization According to Statisticians: An Interview Study on the Role of Visualization for Inferential Statistics.

Statisticians are not only one of the earliest professional adopters of data visualization, but also some of its most prolific users. Understanding how these professionals utilize visual representations in their analytic process may shed light on best practices for visual sensemaking. We present results from an interview study involving 18 professional statisticians (19.7 years average in the profession) on three aspects: (1) their use of visualization in their daily analytic work; (2) their mental models of inferential statistical processes; and (3) their design recommendations for how to best represent statistical inferences. Interview sessions consisted of discussing inferential statistics, eliciting participant sketches of suitable visual designs, and finally, a design intervention with our proposed visual designs. We analyzed interview transcripts using thematic analysis and open coding, deriving thematic codes on statistical mindset, analytic process, and analytic toolkit. The key findings for each aspect are as follows: (1) statisticians make extensive use of visualization during all phases of their work (and not just when reporting results); (2) their mental models of inferential methods tend to be mostly visually based; and (3) many statisticians abhor dichotomous thinking. The latter suggests that a multi-faceted visual display of inferential statistics that includes a visual indicator of analytically important effect sizes may help to balance the attributed epistemic power of traditional statistical testing with an awareness of the uncertainty of sensemaking.

Solidarity with Chrystul Kizer: On Disparate Failures of Knowledge-Attribution and Survivors of Sexual Violence

AbstractI write in solidarity with Chrystul Kizer, a criminalized Black teen survivor of sexual violence in Wisconsin, to detail how her ongoing legal fight occurs in a tilted sociopolitical and epistemological landscape with weighted opponents. I offer a theory of disparate failures of knowledge-attribution for survivors of sexual violence, a structural epistemological problem that I call constructed pragmatic encroachment (CPE). CPE explains that pragmatic encroachment is a nonneutral knowledge-attribution problem whereby attributors are empowered to affirm or deny a subject's knowledge-claim based on the subject's constructed practical stakes. Constructed practical stakes here refers to the potential costs/consequences of acting on knowledge of some p for some subject, “S,” constructed by their practical environment. Examining CPE in Kizer's self-defense case, I highlight why real-world pragmatic encroachment is exceptionally alarming for survivors of sexual violence, especially criminalized survivors. The epistemological problem is not merely whether people in powerful positions are frequently fallible, but the convergence of sociopolitical and epistemic power to deny what survivors know about our own experiences of violence, and power to punish survivors for acting on what we know.

On the Uses and Abuses of Celebrity Epistemic Power

ABSTRACT The testimonies of celebrities affect the lives of their many followers who pay attention to what they say. This gives celebrities a high degree of epistemic power, which has come under scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper investigates the duties that arise from this power. We argue that celebrities have a negative duty of testimonial justice not to undermine trust in authoritative sources by spreading misinformation or directing attention to untrustworthy sources. Moreover, celebrities have a general imperfect duty to try to correct for an unjust distribution of attention by redirecting it to those who deserve it. During a pandemic this may become a perfect one, due to the harm that could be prevented if people follow the advice of experts. Relatedly, we argue that celebrities have an imperfect duty to promote behavior that will reduce the spread of a pandemic. We outline three ways they might do so: they might take on the position of a role model, they may act as a salience magnet or they can direct people’s attention towards others who have taken on these roles.

Patient- and community-centered approaches as the cornerstone of health services evaluation in the 21st century.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Using Stars for Moral Navigation: An Ethical Exploration into Celebrity

What role do celebrities play in our moral lives? Philosophers have explored the potential for celebrities to function as moral exemplars and role models. We argue that there are more ways in which celebrities play a role in helping us navigate our moral lives. First, gossiping about celebrities helps us negotiate our moral norms and identify competing styles of life. Second, fandom for celebrities serves as the basis for the development of distinct moral communities and identities. Third, celebrities possess high levels of epistemic power which can be used to help change and adapt our moral norms. We will then investigate two kinds of problems that arise from using celebrities in this way. Firstly, harm is done to celebrities because they are used in the ways explained in the first part of the article; secondly, celebrity life has a distinctive nature that can affect the moral agency of celebrities. Fame, we suggest, might lead to a morally unhealthy asymmetry in human relationships. We end by discussing the ethical implications of our analysis and conclude that when using stars for moral navigation, we should take into account the harm this does to them and the distinctive nature of their lives.

Reinvigorating Country as teacher in Australian schooling: beginning with school teacher’s direct experiences, ‘relating with Country’

The Country as Teacher research project was a formative exploration of how Indigenous pedagogies might be taken-up as part of mainstream schooling for all Australian students. This paper reports on the first phase where participant teachers were guided and supported, through professional learning, to initiate their own ‘relating with Country’ practice. A Country as teacher pedagogy is enacted through cultivating the practice of reciprocal ‘relating with Country’, resulting in gratitude and learning about, from and how to care for the places we live. Enacting Country as Teacher in school-based curriculum operates as a ‘critical pedagogy of place’, contesting Eurocentric epistemic power in Australian curriculum, to provide a balanced ‘both ways’ education for all. We argue that for teachers to be able to appropriately facilitate Country as teacher pedagogies with students, they must first cultivate their own practice of ‘relating with Country’. In this paper, we examine the stories of 26 teachers in Canberra public schools as they develop their practice of relating with Country. These stories highlight the process, and participant’s challenges and successes. This paper contributes to foundational knowledge and experience for the uptake of Country as teacher pedagogies in Australian schools. Our emerging findings suggest that the practice of ‘relating with Country’ is within the reach of all teachers.

The Gates Foundation, global health and domination: a republican critique of transnational philanthropy

Abstract The turn of the twenty-first century witnessed a revival of interest in the role of philanthropy in the international system, especially in the fields of global poverty and health. Yet, despite an emergent critical literature in development studies and international studies, philanthropy has barely featured in the debate on global distributive justice. This article uses the republican conception of domination as an analytical framework to precisely articulate concerns of justice raised by transnational philanthropy. Using the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its role in global health as a test case, it argues that transnational philanthropy is characterized by an asymmetric distribution of power, which is sufficient to produce dependence, and that is uncontrolled insofar as its use either rests on the will of powerful agents or on terms of social cooperation beyond contestation. This arbitrary character is particularly relevant to philanthropy because of its use of epistemic power to produce and legitimize knowledge. In short, transnational philanthropy is dominating. If individuals have the right to exercise control over the social institutions that profoundly affect their basic interests, then philanthropy has a problem of justice that cannot be dismissed.

Who shapes the CJEU regulatory jurisprudence? On the epistemic power of economic actors and ways to counter it

AbstractWhat role does the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) play in holding European Union (EU) regulatory science, ie the science underpinning public regulation, to account for its epistemic quality? Since Pfizer, CJEU case law has strengthened the role of science in both EU risk regulation and litigation, whilst intensifying judicial scrutiny of scientific reasoning based on procedural standards. Scholars often welcome this approach as striking an adequate balance between effective judicial protection and institutional competence. Some praise the Court as an ‘information catalyst’ promoting procedures, in which epistemic quality is ensured through diligent consideration of and deliberation among all relevant voices. These debates, however, overlook the role of economic actors as information providers, in and challengers of EU risk regulation. This paper re-evaluates the modern post-Pfizer approach from a new, socio-legal perspective by studying, for the first time, the interactions between judicial review and the epistemic power of economic actors, ie their relative ability to influence what EU regulators know at the expense of other actors. We combine an epistemologically informed comparative institutional analysis with doctrinal critique of CJEU case law. Our findings show the need to rethink both legal standing and procedural review in EU risk regulation. Instead of catalysing inclusive procedures that open regulatory science to public scrutiny, the modern approach fosters an exclusive bilateral information exchange between the administration and the regulated industry. The Court reduces the function of process values, such as duty of care and reason-giving, to the protection of a small circle of actors, neglecting the public interest dimension of such values. Thus, the modern approach fails to address, and instead further entrenches the epistemic power imbalances inherent in EU risk regulation. We end by sketching out a normative and doctrinally sound vision of how CJEU review could contribute to EU expert accountability in a more publicly oriented way.

Corporate knowledge and corporate power. Reining in the power of corporations as epistemic agents

ABSTRACT In this paper I discuss the power of corporations as epistemic agents. Corporations need to hold certain forms of knowledge in order to develop and produce goods and services. Intellectual property is meant to incentivize them to do so, in ways that orient their activities towards the public good. However, corporations often use their knowledge strategically, not only within markets, but also in the processes that set the rules for markets. I discuss various historical examples, including the so-called ‘tobacco strategy’ of creating doubt about scientific evidence, and argue that as long as corporations are set up as profit-oriented entities, it is a dangerous strategy to provide them with too much epistemic power. I suggest various policies for reigning in this form of corporate power, for example regulations on PR activities. I then turn to the power of digital corporations, which is based on their collection and analysis of data. These kinds of companies, and the technologies they use, make the control of corporations as epistemic agents all the more urgent for democratic societies.

Reconfiguring Intercultural Communication Education through the dialogical relationship of Istina (Truth) and Pravda (Truth in Justice)

This conceptual paper argues for the reconfiguring of Intercultural Communication Education (ICE) through a dialogical engagement with Istina (Truth) and Pravda (Truth in Justice). The paper argues that the field of ICE is predominantly characterised by normative conceptualisations of truth (e.g., characterised by fixed or ‘objective’ interpretations of language and culture) or hyper-relativist post-truth conceptualisations (e.g., non-essentialist approaches to ICE). This conceptual paper, therefore, addresses the following research question: To what extent can a dialogical approach to truth address and redress epistemic power imbalances in ICE? Through engaging with Russian language and the dialogical approach of Mikhail Bakhtin a non-normative approach for ICE is proposed. The paper conceptually argues in moving beyond the binary of normative and post-truth interpretations in ICE through dialogism. The paper serves at an important juncture amidst calls that the field of ICE is characterised by epistemic violence and epistemic power imbalances. The proposed dialogical approach to truth in ICE aims to redress epistemic imbalances in arguing for a form of non-normative dialogical ethics.

Knowledge communities and policy influence in China

How do citizen groups influence policy, particularly in political contexts thought to lack grassroots inputs into the policymaking process? Predominant explanations focus on bargaining and mobilization around interests and identities, neglecting the role of ideas. Emerging scholarship shows how knowledge—or epistemic power—shapes political decision making. This paper applies these advances to the Chinese context to uncover how knowledge communities impact policy and governance. The paper draws on extensive longitudinal field research embracing Chinese NGOs, local officials, and policy research bodies. It presents three cases of cross-sector collective knowledge generation within the Chinese context. In these cases, communities comprised of combinations of NGO staff, villagers, academics and officials interact around specific policy issues, generating knowledge and spurring policy innovations. The cases highlight the porous nature of sectoral boundaries that enable the formation of cross-sector communities, suggest an expanded notion of epistemic expertise and a broader conceptualization of knowledge production. In this way, the paper identifies mechanisms by which knowledge about development intersects with power structures and is then diffused.