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Palgrave Macmillan

Science, Numbers and Politics

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Markus J. Prutsch

    1. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany

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  • Examines the role of numbers for and in politics
  • Argues that numbers are a connecting device between science and politics
  • Sheds light on the current distrust in expert and scientific knowledge.

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Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. “Working Numbers”—Introductory Remarks

    • Markus J. Prutsch
    Pages 1-17

  3. Historical Genesis of the Relation Between Science, Numbers and Politics

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
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    2. Historical Genesis of the Relation Between Science, Numbers and Politics—Part I Introduction

      • Kelly L. Grotke, Stephen Hastings-King
      Pages 21-27

    3. “Lies, Damned Lies and State-istics”: Counting “Real Inhabitants” in the Census (Belgium, 1846–1947)

      • Kaat Louckx
      Pages 29-56

    4. “What Use Is It in the Long Run to Resist Something That Is Bound to Happen Anyway?” The Statistical Mind Settling in Nineteenth-Century Politics

      • Ida H. Stamhuis
      Pages 57-83

    5. Science, Numbers and Colonialism in the African Great Lakes , 1820–1910

      • Axel Utz
      Pages 85-119

    6. The Emergence of a Global Economic Order: From Scientific Internationalism to Infrastructural Globalism

      • Anat Leibler
      Pages 121-145

  4. Science and Politics Today

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147
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    2. Science and Politics Today—Part II Introduction

      • Kathrine von Graevenitz, Georg von Graevenitz
      Pages 149-152

    3. Politics and Policies of Statistical Independence

      • Jean-Guy Prévost
      Pages 153-180

    4. Measuring, Modeling, Controlling the Climate? Numerical Expertise in U.S. Climate Engineering Politics

      • Julia Schubert
      Pages 181-202

    5. What Counts in the Politics of Climate Change? Science, Scepticism and Emblematic Numbers

      • Amanda Machin, Alexander Ruser
      Pages 203-225

    6. Kings and Indicators: Options for Governing Without Numbers

      • Wolfgang Drechsler
      Pages 227-262
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Keywords

About this book

This study explores the dynamic relationship between science, numbers and politics. What can scientific evidence realistically do in and for politics? The volume contributes to that debate by focusing on the role of “numbers” as a means by which knowledge is expressed and through which that knowledge can be transferred into the political realm. Based on the assumption that numbers are constantly being actively created, translated, and used, and that they need to be interpreted in their respective and particular contexts, it examines how numbers and quantifications are made ‘politically workable’, examining their production, their transition into the sphere of politics and their eventual use therein. Key questions that are addressed include: In what ways does scientific evidence affect political decision-making in the contemporary world? How and why did quantification come to play such an important role within democratic politics? What kind of work do scientific evidenceand numbers do politically?

Editors and Affiliations

  • Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany

    Markus J. Prutsch

About the editor

Markus J. Prutsch is Senior Investigator and Administrator at the European Parliament, and a fellow of both the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Heidelberg University, Germany. He studied history and political science in Austria and Germany, and was a researcher at the European University Institute and the University of Helsinki, Finland. His work has been awarded on several occasions.

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