Evolutionary Hubris, False Certainty, and Structural Scepticism: The Academic-Policy Divide

In: Cambridge review of international affairs, Band 22, Heft 1, S. 120-124

Abstract

Part of a roundtable discussion held in San Francisco in 2008 at International Studies Association Annual Conference that identifies the gap between policymakers and academics via autobiographical notes from several distinguished scholars. In this section, Janice Gross Stein targets the unavoidable risks involved when social scientists attempt to advance policy. Her argument that corruption is unavoidable and scholars who are cavalier enough to attempt what she terms 'evolutionary hubris' must consider the option of abandoning their position if they admit that their ultimate policymaking decisions opposes or violates their moral principles. T. Cabrera