When the authority of science and the authority of democracy conflict and the result is a stand-off, a legitimacy vacuum can ensue, with ordinary citizens distrusting government and scientific advisers in equal measure.
Tag: authority
The Return of Sovereignty
Originally published in The New Republic SOVEREIGNTY IS BACK. Our debates about the global economic crisis keep returning to the problem of sovereign debt and the need for sovereign guarantees to reassure the markets. We keep hoping that somewhere, sometime, in the downward spiral of de-leveraging and disillusion there will be an authority— a sovereign—to take charge and put an end to our anxiety. This…