Technocratic politics: beyond democratic society?

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Rationality: Reassembling Technocratic Theory -- Chapter 2 Power: Expertise and Digitalisation -- Chapter 3 Ambivalence: Governance and Technoscience -- Chapter 4 Emergency: The New Enlightened Despotism -- Bibliography -- Index.

This book considers the role of experts and expertise in contemporary politics and the ways in which digitalisation and the use of technique are transforming practices of governance. Asking whether the Covid-19 crisis is likely to further advance or weaken these processes, it examines their impact on the future of democracy and urges rejection of the idea of technocracy as an alternative to politics. An examination of the relationship between social elites and technique, this volume highlights the threat posed to representative democracy of this fundamental mechanism of governance in the global world and reflects upon new forms of the political-economic regime. It is important reading for scholars of sociology and politics with interests in questions of power, governance, and representation.