Science and Politics: What Policy Actors Believe in

However, there is no doubt that expert knowledge is an important type of policy-relevant information for decision-makers. A central prerequisite for the use of expert knowledge is its credibility. This research project examined how policy actors in Switzerland perceive experts who comment on political issues in the media and investigated which factors influence the credibility of the experts.

Based on existing knowledge gained from previous research, it cannot be expected that all individuals evaluate expertise in the same way. The project compared two groups of crucial policy actors, namely members of parliament and voters. With its direct-democratic tradition, the Swiss system places high informational demands on the voters and provides them among other things with the opportunity to propose constitutional amendments. Studying how voters react to expertise is therefore of crucial interest in the Swiss context. Moreover, we can expect that voters differ considerably from politicians in their assessment of expertise on political issues, as the two groups have different abilities and motivations to process information from experts. The results of the project help to understand whom and what parliamentarians and voters believe.

In light of recent debates about a ’post-factual’ society, this project also has important normative implications: It provides insight into whose and which ‘truth’ is perceived as the most credible and to what extent traditional authorities such as science are losing authority among politicians and the public.