Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access published online on February 19, 2008
Parliamentary Affairs, doi:10.1093/pa/gsn004
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Government and Information: Scientific Research and Policy Agenda in Congress
The relationship between scientific knowledge and public policy-making is an issue that is still unfolding. Working from the conventional wisdom that scientific knowledge plays a primary role in formulating public policy, this article first presents the problem of the influence of scientific research on policy-making in the US Congress. It then examines some of the reasons why the original paradigm, in which scientific research has a direct effect on the congressional policy agenda, has proven to be untenable. Subsequently, it addresses the conception of the influence of scientific analysis on congressional policy-making. In this conception, the knowledge generated by epistemic communities does not dominate public policy with compelling empirical evidence; instead, it influences the policy agenda by shaping the conceptual vocabulary of members of Congress and their staffs.