Dissolving decision making? Models and their roles in decision-making processes and policy at large

TY - JOUR

T1 - Dissolving decision making?

T2 - Models and their roles in decision-making processes and policy at large

AU - Zeiss, Ragna

AU - van Egmond, S.

PY - 2014/12/1

Y1 - 2014/12/1

N2 - This article studies the roles three science-based models play in Dutch policy and decision making processes. Key is the interaction between model construction and environment. Their political and scientific environments form contexts that shape the roles of models in policy decision making. Attention is paid to three aspects of the wider context of the models: a) the history of the construction process; b) (changes in) the political and scientific environments;and c) the use in policy processes over longer periods of time. Models are more successfully used when they are constructed in a stable political and scientific environment. Stability and certainty within a scientific field seems to be a key predictor for the usefulness of models for policy making. The economic model is more disputed than the ecology-based model and the model that has its theoretical foundation in physics and chemistry. The roles models play inpolicy processes are too complex to be considered as straightforward technocratic powers.

AB - This article studies the roles three science-based models play in Dutch policy and decision making processes. Key is the interaction between model construction and environment. Their political and scientific environments form contexts that shape the roles of models in policy decision making. Attention is paid to three aspects of the wider context of the models: a) the history of the construction process; b) (changes in) the political and scientific environments;and c) the use in policy processes over longer periods of time. Models are more successfully used when they are constructed in a stable political and scientific environment. Stability and certainty within a scientific field seems to be a key predictor for the usefulness of models for policy making. The economic model is more disputed than the ecology-based model and the model that has its theoretical foundation in physics and chemistry. The roles models play inpolicy processes are too complex to be considered as straightforward technocratic powers.

KW - policy making

KW - Models, Statistical

KW - science policy

M3 - Article

SN - 0269-8897

VL - 27

SP - 631

JO - Science in Context

JF - Science in Context

IS - 4

ER -