From technocracy to technocratic politics: a new conceptual model for analysing the relation between technoscience and politics

The main purpose of this chapter is to offer a contribution to the attempt to redefine the relation between politics and experts as well as politics and technique, leaving the classic framework based on the keyword ‘technocracy’ to move on to a new discourse centred on a theory of technocratic politics. Following a discussion of the general relations between technoscience, power and modernity, the concept of technocratic politics will be introduced with the aim of demonstrating why it is to be preferred to that of technocracy. The main features of the ideal type of technocratic politics is presented, as they pertain to the classical questions regarding power: Who rules? With what objectives? Through what decision-making style? With what forms of legitimation? In the final part of the chapter three possibly transformative future trends in technocratic politics are identified: the increasing role of AI, the transformation of forms of legitimization, and the hybridization of this with other kinds of oligarchic politics – in particular, oikocracy.