May science be with you: Can scientific expertise confer legitimacy to transnational authority?

Paskalev, Vesco

Abstract

The paper draws on the recent science and technology scholarship (STS) to criticise the dominant understanding of the role of science on which the existing system of transnational regulation is based. In particular, it employs the concept of epistemic subsidiarity suggested by Sheila Jasanoff to the science-based regulation in the EU to explain why the formal authority of the GMO regulators is crumbling, while some transnational regimes with no formal legal foundation flourish. It argues that to build their own authority, transnational regimes must not dismiss local concerns as ‘unscientific’ and ‘political’ but should themselves seek to take these concerns into account. The paper explores several ways in which this might be done in a multilevel system and concludes that instead of seeking to circumscribe the domains, we should strive to make their boundaries more porous.

Citation

Paskalev, V. (2017). May science be with you: Can scientific expertise confer legitimacy to transnational authority?. Transnational Legal Theory, 8(2), 202-223. https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2017.1356624

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 24, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Aug 4, 2017
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 29, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 10, 2018
• Journal: Transnational legal theory
• Print ISSN: 2041-4005
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-4013
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 202-223
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/20414005.2017.1356624
• Keywords: Expertise; Authority; Epistemic subsidiarity; Risk regulation; STS
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/440532
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/20414005.2017.1356624
• Additional Information: This is a description of an article accepted for future publication in Transnational legal theory.