The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics
Abstract
Scientists have a choice concerning what role they should play in political debates and policy formation, particularly in terms of how they present their research. This book is about understanding this choice, what considerations are important to think about when deciding, and the consequences of such choices for the individual scientist and the broader scientific enterprise. Rather than prescribing what course of action each scientist ought to take, the book aims to identify a range of options for individual scientists to consider in making their own judgments about how they would like to position themselves in relation to policy and politics. Using examples from a range of scientific controversies and thought-provoking analogies from other walks of life, The Honest Broker challenges us all - scientists, politicians and citizens - to think carefully about how best science can contribute to policy-making and a healthy democracy.
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Only the independent research variant allows the university to function as a mostly unbiased clearinghouse for science and for professors to function as honest knowledge brokers.
“We posit that only this variant allows the university to function as a (mostly unbiased) clearinghouse for science and for professors to function as honest knowledge brokers (Pielke 2007).”
From Transdisciplinarity: science for and with society in light of the university’s roles and functions (2020) · cites this paper as Pielke 2007
Maintaining independence is the prerequisite for facilitators to work as honest knowledge brokers.
“But maintaining independence is the prerequisite for facilitators to work as honest knowledge brokers (Pielke 2007).”
From Transdisciplinarity: science for and with society in light of the university’s roles and functions (2020) · cites this paper as Pielke 2007
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König, B., Diehl, K. E., Tscherning, K., & Helming, K. (2012) · Research Policy · doi:10.1016/j.respol.2012.05.006 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Preference Change in Competitive Political Environments
Druckman, J. N., & Lupia, A. (2015) · Annual Review of Political Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-020614-095051 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
“As Steketee (2010, p. 2) argues, science can become politicized when an actor exploits “the inevitable uncertainties about aspects of science to cast doubt on the science overall . . . thereby magnifying doubts in the public mind” (see also Jasanoff 1987, p. 195; Oreskes & Conway 2010; Pielke 2007).”
BackgroundLiu, J., Dou, Y., Batistella, M., Challies, E., Connor, T., Friis, C., Millington, J. D. A., Parish, E. S., Romulo, C. L., Silva, R., et al. (2018) · Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability · doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2018.04.009 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Gustafsson, K. M., & Lidskog, R. (2017) · Climate Risk Management · doi:10.1016/j.crm.2017.11.001 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
An anchor in troubled times: Trust in science before and within the COVID-19 pandemic
Bromme, R., Mede, N. G., Thomm, E., Kremer, B., & Ziegler, R. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262823 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Science, Policy, and the Transparency of Values
Elliott, K. C., & Resnik, D. B. (2014) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.1408107 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
“This approach has much in common with Ashford’s seminal call for scientists to be transparent about their values (Ashford 1988) and with Pielke’s vision of scientists as “honest brokers” who open up discussions about the range of options available to decision makers (Pielke 2007).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Politics of Environmental Knowledge
Turnhout, E. (2018) · Conservation and Society · doi:10.4103/cs.cs_17_35 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Scientists’ views about communication objectives
Besley, J. C., Dudo, A. D., & Yuan, S. (2017) · Public Understanding of Science · doi:10.1177/0963662517728478 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
EDITORIAL: Bridging the knowing–doing gap: know‐who, know‐what, know‐why, know‐how and know‐when
Hulme, P. E. (2014) · Journal of Applied Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2664.12321 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Acting, predicting and intervening in a socio-hydrological world
Lane, S. N. (2014) · Hydrology and earth system sciences · doi:10.5194/hess-18-927-2014 · Cited by 153 · see citing works
The evaluation of climate policy: theory and emerging practice in Europe
Huitema, D., Jordan, A., Massey, E. E., Rayner, T., van Asselt, H., Haug, C., Hildingsson, R., Monni, S., & Stripple, J. (2011) · Policy Sciences · doi:10.1007/s11077-011-9125-7 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism in Politicized Science Debates
Nisbet, M. C., & Fahy, D. (2015) · The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · doi:10.1177/0002716214559887 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
How Frames Can Undermine Support for Scientific Adaptations: Politicization and the Status-Quo Bias
Bolsen, T., Druckman, J. N., & Cook, F. L. (2014) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nft044 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Mantyka-Pringle, C. S., Jardine, T. D., Bradford, L., Bharadwaj, L., Kythreotis, A. P., Fresque-Baxter, J., Kelly, E., Somers, G., Doig, L. E., Jones, P. D., et al. (2017) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2017.02.008 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
- Authors
- Pielke, Jr.
- Venue
- Cambridge University Press eBooks
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 2007-04-19
- OpenAlex
- W1527452312
- Cited by
- 2,020
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 112 · 2025: 108 · 2024: 88 · 2023: 96 · 2022: 126 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 119 · 2019: 149 · 2018: 103 · 2017: 129 · 2016: 147 · 2015: 119 · 2014: 146 · 2013: 119 · 2012: 95
- FWCI
- 66.69
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Research, Science, and Academia
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › Social Science and Policy Research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education
- Keywords
- science and politics, science and policy, role of scientists, scientific controversy, science communication, democracy, scientific integrity, science and society, public understanding of science
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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