| Abstract: | Traditionally, the relationship between technical expertise and policymaking has been conceptualized as one in which there is linear conformity between expert knowledge and policy decision. Although often critical of this perspective, writings in science and technology studies, as well as in general policy science, follow this tradition in many vital respects. In argument with such “rationalist” traditions in science and technology policy inquiry, the present article argues the importance of viewing the use or enabling enactment of technoscientific expertise in regulative policy as situated in a specific culture of policymaking, i.e. a policy culture. The institutional and managerial implications of such a perspective are elaborated and supported by a comparative example drawn from European nuclear regulation. Finally, the concept of mediative expert enactment is suggested as a management approach in situations where policy cultures diverge. |
