ABSTRACT
Democratic criticisms and worries over the political role of experts are prevalent in many quarters and go far beyond populist attacks. The most basic democratic objection to experts’ political role is that it is inimical to the idea of “rule by the people”. Democratic procedures give each and every citizen an equal say in shaping collective decisions they are subject to. Deliberative democrats who stress the importance of public deliberation, there is additionally the worry that deliberation over political issues becomes dominated by experts, and so significantly less public. An additional worry is that expertization may increase the feeling among large shares of the citizenry that they live under a rule that rather expresses the will of experts and elites. Glaring illustrations are the democratic backsliding in Hungary or Poland and the angry mob that stormed the US Capitol in 2021 to prevent the confirmation of the election results.
