Faculty Workshop – Carmen Pavel

To be held in Hariri, room 570. Carmen Pavel (King’s College London) will present her paper titled “Ethical Expertise in Public Policy“. Lunch will be served. To attend, please email the director of the institute, Michael Douma at

The paper abstract:

Ever since the technocratic turn in public policy after WWII, governments have increasingly relied on experts for making public policy. Aiming to shape the world and accompanied by an ‘overwhelming confidence’ in the ‘ability to measure and monitor that world,’ lawmakers and political officials have availed themselves of expert advice to shape their policy choices (Goodin et al. 2008, 3). Expertise in the fields of economics, sociology, engineering, environmental and medical science have been instrumental in expanding the welfare state, building infrastructure, improving public health, expanding access to public education, and addressing environmental challenges. And while the contribution of many kinds of expertise in making public policy is acknowledged and celebrated, there is a kind of expertise that is poorly understood and whose role in making public policy is uncertain: ethical expertise. This paper examines the question of whether there is such a thing as ethical expertise for public policy, what is the nature of that expertise, and who possesses it.