Participatory Democracy And Multi-strategic Research

In order to address the question “What approaches to science should be fostered in the light of holding democratic values?”, this chapter sketches two conceptions of democracy: representative democracy and participatory democracy, and two of scientific research: decontextualizing research, i.e., research in which decontextualizing strategies (DSs) are adopted virtually exclusively; and multi-strategic research, research that allows a pluralism of methodological strategies (not limited to DSs) so that objects of many different kinds can be investigated. It first discusses connections between representative democracy and DS-research, and the consequences that may follow for science in the face of the threats to weaken democratic values and institutions that are being made in several countries today. The chapter’s principle objective, however, is to show that holding the values of participatory democracy leads to fostering multi-strategic research, which upholds the traditional ideals of modern science