Social Movements and Expertise

ARANCIBIA FLORENCIA

New York

Congreso; Expertise from margin to center.; 2016

Columbia University

In a time of growing technological hazards, there is widespread concern about the demise of citizen control over risk governance. According to Jasanoff (1990), regulatory frameworks are based on ?regulatory science,? and flaws in its production process can determine conclusions that are based on incomplete data, or coopted by powerful stakeholders. Frequently, approved technologies produce unpredicted and detrimental effects on both public health and the environment. As decisions are presented exclusively as ?scientific? instead of ?political,? they are not open to public democratic debate. In this context, new forms of collective action in the arena of regulatory science are emerging, as well as novel relationships between social movements and expertise. This paper seeks to understand these relationships by exploring the conflict over the governance of agrarian technology in Argentina. The case provides a good entry point to discuss processes of contesting expertise within environmental-health conflicts.