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A Delicate Balance
A Delicate
Balance
An effective government policy countering the
COVID-19 pandemic relies on scientific advice.
Still, there is a fine line to be tread to make the
relationship between politics and science work
well. Transparency is one key factor.
By Christian Schwägerl
I
n recent years, a phrase became popular among pathological narcissism led him to envy Fauci’s
top American scientists: “When the going gets popularity among an anxious population, who
tough, go get Fauci.” The 79-year-old immunol- admired their new “explainer-in-chief.” Some peo-
ogist was a kind of secret scientific weapon when ple even took to wearing t-shirts with Fauci’s face
it came to dealing with politicians, and indeed the on them. It also became clear that Fauci wanted to
public. Anthony Fauci is head of the NIAID, the Na- prioritize public health over short-term economic
tional Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. considerations, a policy Trump regarded as very
Famous for his research but with no star persona, dangerous…to his re-election prospects.
he can clearly explain complex scientific subjects, Dr. Fauci began to publicly express frustration
sketch out their practical implications, and explain with a president who seemed quite unwilling to
the consequences for politics and everyday life. learn, and who paid no heed to scientific facts,
This is how, early in 2020, Dr. Fauci became the publicly recommending the drinking of bleach and
public face of American science. With the corona- expressing faith in non-existent light therapies. “I
virus spreading across the United States, President can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him
Donald Trump eventually recognized the illness as down!” Fauci told Science magazine in March 2020.
a huge and present danger, no mere Democratic By early summer, relations had badly broken
hoax. Fauci stepped into the limelight, in person down. Fauci appeared in public far less often, as the
at the president’s briefings, which were broadcast White House vetoed his media appearances. With
worldwide. the presidential election approaching, Trump dis-
But cracks soon appeared in the relations be- paraged his top scientist, calling him a “disaster,”
tween the president and his top scientist. Trump’s and dismissing his own advisors as “idiots.” Fauci
IP Special • 2 /2021 | 39
The Future of Democracy
was even assigned a team of bodyguards. advisor to then-President George W. Bush,
By now, the rest is history. reportedly dismissed those who believed
Germany’s experience in 2020 has been politics was about the close study of reali-
quite different, above all because Chan- ty. “We create our own reality,” he said. Not
cellor Angela Merkel is a trained scientist, so far from the “alternative facts” cited by
with a PhD in physics. For Merkel, science Trump’s advisor Kellyanne Conway when
is not meant to be a political performance. discussing inauguration crowd numbers
She declined to push Fauci’s German coun- in 2017.
terpart—Christian Drosten, the head of the This kind of thinking spread in Europe
National Coronavirus Laboratory and Di- too, above all in the United Kingdom. Un-
rector of the Institute for Virology at Ber- der Tony Blair’s Labour government, “spin
lin’s Charité hospital—into the spotlight to doctors” ruled the roost, not people with
boost her political standing, although he actual doctorates. In 2016, Conservative
would have been an appropriate figure to politician Michael Gove took a directly
play the role. anti-science stance: during a debate on
Merkel has rarely appeared with scien-
tists in public during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Behind the scenes, however, the
chancellor has regularly brought scientists
into discussions, as at the key meeting in
October 2020 between Merkel and the lead-
ers of Germany’s 16 federal states. German Chancel-
On the whole, the German chancellor
prefers to present the science herself. In
late September, she impressed the public
lor Angela Merkel
prefers to present
with a live “back of the envelope” sci-
entific calculation, used to show that, if
nothing was done, a few hundred cases in
August could mean 19,200 by Christmas.
But outside the public eye, she has sought the science herself
out contacts with scientists. From the
Robert Koch Institute to the Leopoldina
(German National Academy of Sciences)
and the Helmholtz Association of German
Research Centers, scientific institutions
have contributed knowledge to the polit- Brexit, he famously said, “People in this
ical understanding of Germany’s public country have had enough of experts.”
health situation. Similar trends have occurred in Hungary,
where the government has the scientific
A Split in the Western World community on a tight leash, and in Brazil,
Christian Schwägerl These contrasting attitudes to science where President Jair Bolsonaro has tried to
is one of Germany‘s could hardly be more striking. They rep- stop the publication of data on coronavirus
leading science resent a deep split in the Western world, and on Amazon deforestation.
journalists and co-
founder of Riff- one which goes back long before Trump’s The governments of New Zealand,
Reporter. 2016 victory. In 2004, Karl Rove, a close Canada, and Germany stand as counter-
40 | IP Special • 2 /2021A Delicate Balance
examples, having at least tried to orient half of the 20th century. Scientists have
policy—on climate change, the pandemic, all too willingly supported political ideol-
and other issues, including dangerous de- ogies, like the Social Darwinism preached
clines in biodiversity—according to scien- by Herbert Spencer. Nazi Germany’s geno-
tific research. cidal plans and human experiments were
To understand these conflicts around crimes substantially driven by scientists.
science and politics, we need to look back The scientific community has subjected
at the history of science. This does not its role in Nazi crimes to serious critical
make for comfortable reading on any side scrutiny—although the process is hardly
of the debate. The historical record dis- complete—and drawn broad conclusions.
proves simplistic models in which “good But there has not yet been intense debate
politics” always listens to “good science,” around science’s role in the imperialist
while bad politics does not. and colonial genocides of the West.
Since World War II, science has been
Complicated Relations more obliged than ever to uphold its own
Science has profoundly enriched the rela- basic values. It has not shied away from
tionship between politics and society. De- presenting politicians with uncomforta-
ploying evidence, arguing for proof, and ble truths. In free Western countries, im-
refuting error, science has contributed to pressive networks of scientific advisors on
a massive growth in material and physical political issues have been created.
wellbeing, not least with breakthroughs in In Germany, this network has several
medicine, agriculture, and communica- layers. In terms of government, the most
tions. Beyond even that, science has also closely-integrated science is the “depart-
been central to the emergence of open, mental research” carried out within fed-
democratic societies. eral and state governments. These days,
The early Enlightenment held to the the most prominent of these institutions is
utopian idea of a Republic of Scholars, in the Robert Koch Institute, headquartered
which rationality would be the only princi- in Berlin. Coronavirus research has thrust
ple and guide. As science flourished, it de- this institution into the spotlight, and it
veloped methods against superstition, but continues to provide the government with
these also worked against aristocratic de- daily information and advice. The large
sires for total power. The scientific method research institutions of the Helmholtz
generated a growing body of knowledge. Association are also working closely with
More importantly, however, it encouraged the Federal Ministry of Research, although
a subversive process of evidence gather- they remain organizationally separate
ing, which could render powerless even a from government. The Helmholtz Associ-
supposedly omnipotent pope or king. ation’s research aims are adjusted regular-
But an idyllic or idealistic story of sci- ly, but the basic idea remains that of free
ence’s influence on politics would not tell scientific inquiry. Since the outbreak of the
the whole truth. Over the last century, pol- COVID-19 pandemic, the Helmholtz Center
itics and science have often made highly for Infection Research in Braunschweig
problematic alliances. has played a key role in creating models
Scientists were enablers and accomplic- of the pandemic’s spread.
es in colonialism and played a key role in The Leopoldina is the third type of
the horrific escalation of war in the first institution offering public policy advice.
IP Special • 2 /2021 | 41The Future of Democracy The “public face of American science” began to express frustration with a president who paid no heed to facts: Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a hearing on the coronavirus crisis at the US Congress, July 2020 The head virologist at the Charité hospital has emphat- ically denied he was a sort of “replacement chancellor” for the time of the pandem- ic: Christian Drosten at his laboratory in Berlin 42 | IP Special • 2 /2021
A Delicate Balance
US President closed-mindedness is one key problem, as
is the very narrow thematic composition
of committees. For example, most aca-
Donald Trump demic economists offering policy advice
still wrongly regard environmental and
came to denigrate
climate protection as “externalities,” as
if life’s natural basis could be something
merely extra, an add-on to what is sup-
his own experts posed to be reality.
Major errors have also occurred: in
Germany, demographers long predicted
rapid and unavoidable population decline,
and were widely listened to in the polit-
ical world. However, population decline
Founded in 1652, it is Germany’s oldest will probably not now occur until at least
scientific organization, and strongly em- 2030. This means all planning—whether
phasizes its autonomy and independence. urban development, energy reform, or
In 2008, it relaunched as the “National public debt policy—has been based on
Academy of Sciences,” a role in which false premises. Fortunately, there are
the Leopoldina regularly publishes rec- many examples of scientists supplying
ommendations on issues from COVID-19 timely, well-founded, thorough advice on
to biodiversity. For its part, the German problems going beyond the usual political
parliament (the Bundestag) has its own time horizon (i.e. the next election). Above
institutions for research and consultation, all, this has been true for climate change.
including its Research Services and the Between 1987 and 1990 (!), the parliamen-
Office for Technology Impact Assessment. tary Enquête Commission on “Provisions
Additionally, parliamentary “Enquête to Protect the Earth’s Atmosphere” was
Commissions” offer a unique format for already offering decisive warnings for hu-
producing science-based advice. manity, helping climate politics to emerge
Across federal and state levels, there as a field in its own right.
are numerous scientific advice commit- Thus, when the coronavirus first began
tees in all areas of politics, employing to circulate early in 2020, both Germany
university academics and expert from and the United States were well prepared
other institutes. Most Western countries for scientists to advise political leadership.
have similarly broad networks. However, What happened next will probably dom-
in the United States the leadership of the inate debate on science-politics relations
White House Office of Science and Tech- for many years to come. An entire gener-
nology Policy (OSTP) remained vacant for ation of historians of science will study
18 months after Trump’s 2016 victory. how President Trump denigrated his own
experts, including Fauci and the entire
Getting It Wrong, Sometimes Centers for Disease Control, both in me-
In general, scientific advice is not lacking, dia comments and in practical contexts.
and has very often formed the basis for But even Germany has seen differences
good and feasible political decisions. But in opinion on how politicians should best
not everything runs perfectly: disciplinary respond to advice. Good scientific advice
IP Special • 2 /2021 | 43The Future of Democracy
should always rely on the most up-to-date effectiveness of masks. He has helped a
research, and should be open about any wide audience understand that research
gaps in its knowledge. It needs to acknowl- on COVID-19 in children and the young is
edge errors, and respect the time pressure unsettled and incomplete. Drosten’s “one
that politicians are under. Ideally, advice man show” has presented politicians with
should offer several possible actions, not options, while his ongoing dialogue with
just one. Above all, scientists should be the general public has emphasized collec-
clear on their own role, and refrain from tive learning processes in the pandemic.
playing politics. As a public figure, Hendrik Streeck, head
of virology at Bonn University, presents a
Behind the Scenes stark contrast with Drosten. Ever since the
During the pandemic, scientific advice in earliest reports on the new virus, Streeck
Germany has largely taken place behind has continually minimized its dangers.
the scenes. There is no central national sci- In April, he inflated his own fieldwork,
entific committee, and Merkel has decid- making claims for national transmission
ed not to have scientists stand at her side. based on his narrow study of contagion
Even so, several individuals have come to in Gangelt, a village in the federal state of
dominant media coverage. North Rhine-Westphalia. His claims were
Scientific figures who seem to embody presented at a joint press conference with
scientific ideals include Christian Drosten, Armin Laschet, prime minister of North
head virologist at Berlin’s Charité hospi- Rhine-Westphalia. Streeck’s intervention
tal, and Sandra Ciesek, head of Frankfurt helped bolster Laschet’s demands for a
University’s Institute for Virology. Early in rapid end to the first lockdown, propos-
the debate, Drosten emphatically denied als which succeeded some days later. The
he was a sort of “replacement chancellor” Bonn virologist has used his position to
for the pandemic. In many interviews, he popularize ideas discredited in scientific
has openly acknowledged his own errors, literature, in particular “herd immunity”
for example his misunderstanding of the theories. These claim that widespread
infection among the young, even in the
absence of a vaccine, could offer collective
defense to society.
As the year has gone on, Streeck’s mes-
saging has come disquietingly close to that
Good scientific emerging from Trump’s White House. At
times, his ideas have been based on false
advice needs to
assumptions, for example about how long
and how well antibodies can protect those
recovering from COVID-19, and about dan-
be open about gers to young people, even outside sup-
posed high-risk groups. There has been
much speculation about possible moti-
gaps in its present vations for Streeck’s interventions. What
is clear is that his pronouncements have
knowledge
brought him substantial media attention,
and won him the support of the powerful
44 | IP Special • 2 /2021A Delicate Balance
media group Axel Springer and its own- sequences, have seen slower resolution.
er, the US investment company KKR. One Some questions—where the virus origi-
KKR subsidiary, Deutsche Glasfaser, has nated, for example—could take years to
helped to co-finance Streeck’s “Heins- answer. Many much-heralded announce-
burg” study in North Rhine-Westphalia. ments, for example on the effectiveness of
medicines like Remdesivir, have ultimate-
A Communication Gap ly turned out to be false. Both politicians
In one way, the contrast between Dros- and the population at large are now see-
ten and Ciesek and scientists like Streeck ing “science in the making,” as the whole
revealed a healthy pluralism of opinion
in Germany, although for politicians it
presents a problem of whom to trust. But
In a pandemic,
what became clear, above all, was that the
German science establishment as a whole
was unprepared to communicate with the
public in an emergency. In particular, it
did not know how to deal with problematic
people want rapid
figures. In February 2020 a huge communi-
cation gap opened up, into which poured
conspiracy theorists, ideologists, and
certainties and
guarantees, also
quack doctors.
Accustomed to announcing break-
throughs, science communication pro-
fessionals in Europe and the US have
struggled to counteract conspiracy the-
on a vaccine
orists on social media. Effective political
advice has been hampered by a failure to
weigh statements of different value, and
to act against problematic assertions by world has turned into a real-life laboratory,
some researchers. This has prompted a where the health and survival of millions
wave of critical interventions, like that of depend on the smooth functioning of
the “Siggen Circle,” an important forum science and its processes of knowledge
for science communication professionals. production.
A statement from October 2020 contained Every day we are reminded of Karl Pop-
down-to-earth advice: “If in doubt, keep per, the philosopher who described sci-
your mouth shut!” ence as the “present state of error.” Today,
In a pandemic, people want rapid cer- both politicians and the general public
tainties and guarantees, for example on have a unique opportunity to understand
the availability of a vaccine. During the the great strength of the scientific meth-
coronavirus outbreak, science has suc- od—to provide knowledge to act on, as is
cessfully delivered gains in record time: the case in both the climate and the COV-
for example, establishing the molecular ID-19 crises—and precisely its extraordi-
structure of SARS-CoV-2, and identifying nary openness and capacity for learning,
its differences from other pathogens. Oth- which helps politicians to keep an open
er issues, like COVID-19’s long-term con- mind.
IP Special • 2 /2021 | 45You can also read
