Erik Oddvar Eriksen - The Accountability of Expertise: Making the Un-Elected Safe for Democracy

The rise of unelected bodies is a conspicuous feature of modern governing and a recurrent theme in political research. Institutionalising unelected expert bodies in democratic societies testifies to a new grammar of politics in which the organisation of specialised forms of expertise is becoming decisive for legitimate policymaking. The new organisational complex is made up of agencies, central banks, economic regulators, risk managers and auditors, appointed with specific responsibilities and operating at arms length from ministries and parliaments. Such bodies and networks of experts are needed for identifying viable policy options, for clarifying multifaceted problems, for resolving disputes and conflicts, and for carrying out administrative tasks, sometimes in collaboration with civil society. They are called on because the traditional institutions of representative democracy are not equipped to handle some of the major challenges facing modern societies: such challenges are much more amenable to action by unelected bodies (Vibert 2007: 103). Often parliaments are not able to weigh and balance policy options when the stakes are high (Nordhaus 2008). The role and status of unelected bodies are of principal interest. They wield power but are neither elected nor directly controlled. How can they then be made safe for democracy?

Problem-solving and conflict resolution in pluralistic and functionally differentiated societies depend on knowledge-producing institutions. Modern societies are characterised both by pluralism and of social complexity. With regard to complexity, technological change and specialisation, asymmetries in competence and information require expertise to sort out what is the case on an objective basis and what the alternatives for action are. Belief in objective knowledge is what makes agreement possible; it is what unites heterogeneous publics. In the face of value pluralism and the rising degrees of conflict, non-partisan decision-making is required. Facts are not a partisan position. The unelected bodies such as agencies and central banks present themselves as apt remedies for meeting such requirements. They are even claimed to constitute