Science, Numbers and Politics

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. “Working Numbers”—Introductory Remarks

   • Markus J. Prutsch

   Pages 1-17

3. Historical Genesis of the Relation Between Science, Numbers and Politics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19

      PDF

   2. Historical Genesis of the Relation Between Science, Numbers and Politics—Part I Introduction

      • Kelly L. Grotke, Stephen Hastings-King

      Pages 21-27

   3. “Lies, Damned Lies and State-istics”: Counting “Real Inhabitants” in the Census (Belgium, 1846–1947)

      • Kaat Louckx

      Pages 29-56

   4. “What Use Is It in the Long Run to Resist Something That Is Bound to Happen Anyway?” The Statistical Mind Settling in Nineteenth-Century Politics

      • Ida H. Stamhuis

      Pages 57-83

   5. Science, Numbers and Colonialism in the African Great Lakes , 1820–1910

      • Axel Utz

      Pages 85-119

   6. The Emergence of a Global Economic Order: From Scientific Internationalism to Infrastructural Globalism

      • Anat Leibler

      Pages 121-145

4. Science and Politics Today

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147

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   2. Science and Politics Today—Part II Introduction

      • Kathrine von Graevenitz, Georg von Graevenitz

      Pages 149-152

   3. Politics and Policies of Statistical Independence

      • Jean-Guy Prévost

      Pages 153-180

   4. Measuring, Modeling, Controlling the Climate? Numerical Expertise in U.S. Climate Engineering Politics

      • Julia Schubert

      Pages 181-202

   5. What Counts in the Politics of Climate Change? Science, Scepticism and Emblematic Numbers

      • Amanda Machin, Alexander Ruser

      Pages 203-225

   6. Kings and Indicators: Options for Governing Without Numbers

      • Wolfgang Drechsler

      Pages 227-262

5. European and International Education Policies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 263-263

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   2. European and International Education Policies—Part III Introduction

      • Lars Lehmann, Markus J. Prutsch

      Pages 265-270

   3. Higher Purpose and Economic Reason: An Essay Concerning the Role of Numbers in European Education Policy

      • Jörg J. Dötsch

      Pages 271-299

   4. Standardizing the Context and Contextualizing the Standard: Translating PISA into PISA-D

      • Radhika Gorur, Estrid Sørensen, Bryan Maddox

      Pages 301-329

   5. “Let’s Talk Numbers”: Parliamentary Research in Educational Affairs in Light of a Political Demand for Quantification—The Knesset in Comparative Perspective

      • Yuval Vurgan

      Pages 331-364

   6. Science, Numbers and Politics: Concluding Comments

      • Lars Lehmann, Markus J. Prutsch

      Pages 365-375

This study explores the dynamic relationship between science, numbers and politics. What can scientific evidence realistically do in and for politics? The volume contributes to that debate by focusing on the role of “numbers” as a means by which knowledge is expressed and through which that knowledge can be transferred into the political realm. Based on the assumption that numbers are constantly being actively created, translated, and used, and that they need to be interpreted in their respective and particular contexts, it examines how numbers and quantifications are made ‘politically workable’, examining their production, their transition into the sphere of politics and their eventual use therein. Key questions that are addressed include: In what ways does scientific evidence affect political decision-making in the contemporary world? How and why did quantification come to play such an important role within democratic politics? What kind of work do scientific evidenceand numbers do politically?

• Numbers
• Politics
• Science
• Evidence
• Production
• Working numbers
• history
• statistics
• quantitative information
• census
• nation-state
• categories
• residence
• membership
• state-istics
• Modernizing society
• Nineteenth Century politics
• polycentric
• colonial
• Bretton-Woods order

• Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Heidelberg, Germany

  Markus J. Prutsch

Markus J. Prutsch is Senior Investigator and Administrator at the European Parliament, and a fellow of both the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Heidelberg University, Germany. He studied history and political science in Austria and Germany, and was a researcher at the European University Institute and the University of Helsinki, Finland. His work has been awarded on several occasions.

Policies and ethics