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The lesson learned from COVID-19 and the climate crisis is not to let experts decide on policies: a response to Robert C. Schmidt

Author

Listed:
  • Annette Elisabeth Toeller

    (FernUniversitaet in Hagen)

  • Sonja Blum

    (FernUniversitaet in Hagen)

  • Michael Boecher

    (Chair for Political Science and Sustainable Development, Otto-Von-Guericke-Universitaet Magdeburg)

  • Kathrin Loer

    (Hochschule Osnabrueck)

Abstract

This is a response to the commentary by Robert C. Schmidt in this journal, in which the author suggests that for specific problems such as climate change or the current pandemic, decisions on policies should be made by scientific experts rather than by politicians. We argue that such ideas, which were brought up in the late 1960s and reconsidered more recently, do not take sufficient account of the nature of science politics, and their interaction. Furthermore, problem structures and resulting challenges for science and politics are not similar, but essentially different between climate change and the pandemic. Therefore, different solutions to the problems are required. There is a need to improve politics’ reliable recourse to scientific evidence in many cases. Yet, giving scientific experts such a strong position in decision-making ignores that most decisions, even if based on the state of scientific evidence (if there is such an uncontroversial state of evidence), ultimately require genuinely political choices about trade-offs of interests and normative issues that neither can nor should be made by scientists. Therefore, putting Schmidt’s proposal into practice would not solve the existing problems but instead create new problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Annette Elisabeth Toeller & Sonja Blum & Michael Boecher & Kathrin Loer, 2022. "The lesson learned from COVID-19 and the climate crisis is not to let experts decide on policies: a response to Robert C. Schmidt," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(2), pages 284-290, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:12:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s13412-021-00737-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s13412-021-00737-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Robert C. Schmidt, 2021. "Are there similarities between the Corona and the climate crisis?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(2), pages 159-163, June.
    2. Bättig, Michèle B. & Bernauer, Thomas, 2009. "National Institutions and Global Public Goods: Are Democracies More Cooperative in Climate Change Policy?," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 281-308, April.
    3. Nataliia Sokolovska & Benedikt Fecher & Gert G. Wagner, 2019. "Communication on the Science-Policy Interface: An Overview of Conceptual Models," Publications, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Hulme,Mike, 2009. "Why We Disagree about Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521727327, September.
    5. Smriti Mallapaty, 2020. "How do children spread the coronavirus? The science still isn’t clear," Nature, Nature, vol. 581(7807), pages 127-128, May.
    6. Hulme,Mike, 2009. "Why We Disagree about Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521898690, September.
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