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This collection of essays by Sheila Jasanoff explores how democratic governments construct public reason, that is, the forms of evidence and argument used in making state decisions accountable to citizens. The term public reason as used here is not simply a matter of deploying principled arguments that respect the norms of democratic deliberation. Jasanoff investigates what states do in practice when they claim to be reasoning in the public interest. Reason, from this perspective, comprises the institutional practices, discourses, techniques and instruments through which governments claim legitimacy in an era of potentially unbounded risks-physical, political, and moral. Those legitimating efforts, in turn, depend on citizens' acceptance of the forms of reasoning that governments offer. Included here therefore is an inquiry into the conditions that lead citizens of democratic societies to accept policy justification as being reasonable. These modes of public knowing, or "civic epistemologies," are integral to the constitution of contemporary political cultures. Methodologically, the book is grounded in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). It uses in-depth qualitative studies of legal and political practices to shed light on divergent cross-cultural constructions of public reason and the reasoning political subject. The collection as a whole contributes to democratic theory, legal studies, comparative politics, geography, and ethnographies of modernity, as well as STS.

Bureaucratic Archaeology is a multi-faceted ethnography of quotidian practices of archaeology, bureaucracy and science in postcolonial India, concentrating on the workings of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). This book uncovers an endemic link between micro-practice of archaeology in the trenches of the ASI to the manufacture of archaeological knowledge, wielded in the making of political and religious identity and summoned as indelible evidence in the juridical adjudication in the highest courts of India. This book is a rare ethnography of the daily practice of a postcolonial bureaucracy from within rather than from the outside. It meticulously uncovers the social, cultural, political and epistemological ecology of ASI archaeologists to show how postcolonial state assembles and produces knowledge. This is the first book length monograph on the workings of archaeology in a non-western world, which meticulously shows how theory of archaeological practice deviates, transforms and generates knowledge outside the Euro-American epistemological tradition.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Science and Technology: Public Image and Public Policy -- The 1930s Reevaluation of Science -- Policy and a Philosophy of Science and Technology -- Logical Empiricism: The Philosophical Ideal -- The Philosophical Ideal: Policy Implications -- Science and Technology: The New Synthesis -- Historical Approach to Science and Technology -- The New Synthesis: Policy Implications -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 2. A Double Wedding: Science and Government, Knowledge and Power -- World War II and the Politics of Science -- Postwar Honeymoon -- Science and Policy from 1945 to 1968: NSF -- Science Policy After Apollo -- Reviving Science: Ford, Carter, and Reagan -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 3. Energy: Problems of Social Choice -- Energy, Ethics, and Politics -- DOE and an Equitable Policy for Energy -- Energy Policy, Leadership, and the Public -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 4. Nuclear Power and Social Justice -- Nuclear Power in Midland -- Development of U.S. Nuclear Policy -- Ethics and Politics in Nuclear Policy -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 5. Hazardous Waste: Assessing Risk -- Radwaste in New Mexico -- Radwaste in the United States -- Radioactive Waste Policy Since 1977 -- Risk and Responsibility in Policy Making -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 6. Communications Technology: Policy for a Wired Nation -- Development of Cable Communications -- Cable and the Law -- The Franchise Wars -- Cable and Constitutional Conundrums -- Cable and the Future -- Notes -- Selected Readings -- 7. Recombining Genes: Scientific Liberty and Public Safety -- Regulatory Tangle: NIH and Cambridge -- Courts and Corporations: DNA Policy After Cambridge -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Selected Readings.

Since gaining political independence in the 1950s, science has rapidly become a prerequisite for national development within many African nations. Supported by international agencies, such as UNESCO, initiatives were taken to direct Africa on the road of scientific development, enabling contributions to world science and significant progress in many specific research areas. However, from a developmental perspective there remains the question of how science influences national development plans and strategies. How far are science policies integrated into the national development plans? What potential and challenges do science and technology pose for Africa and its prospects for wider development? Offering a comprehensive historical and empirical study of science in both colonial and post-colonial Africa, R. Sooryamoorthy brings to light the connections between science, policy and development in African nations. Focusing on understanding the widening gap in science and technology between developed and developing regions, and the integration (or lack of) with national development strategies, this study provides important insights into the potential opportunities and challenges facing

Foreword : like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants / Giovanni Scarafile -- Introduction : the relationship between science and democracy : harmonic and confrontational conceptions / Pierluigi Barrotta -- The dam project : who are the experts? : a philosophical lesson from the Vajont disaster / Pierluigi Barrotta and Eleonora Montuschi -- Rational decisions in a disagreement with experts / Istvssn Danka -- Rethinking the notion of public : a pragmatist account / Roberto Gronda -- The expert you are (not) : citizens, experts and the limits of science communication / Selene Arfini and Tommaso Bertolotti -- Decisions without scientists? : two case studies about GM plants and invasive acacia in Hungary / Anna Petschner -- Save the planet, win the election : a paradox of science and democracy, an Israeli perpetuum mobile and Donald Trump / Aviram Sariel -- Science and the source of legitimacy in democratic regimes / Oded Balaban -- The ethics of communication and the Terra Terra Project / Giovanni Scarafile and Maria Elena Latino -- The political use of science : the historical case of Soviet cosmology / Mauro Stenico -- The dialectical legacy of epigenetics / Flavio D'abramo