ABSTRACT
The mantra of ‘evidence-based policy’ has gained contemporary currency in political discourse because it implies that decisions about what to do and what to fund are based not on the ideologies or whims of politicians or political parties, but on evidence bases collated, appraised and interpreted by experts. However, the route from evidence to policy is not as smooth as one might imagine it to be. There are different bodies of evidence, and the discipline-bound nature of scientific and social-scientific practice means that those generating and promoting such evidence bases rarely look beyond the evidence that their discipline has generated. In fact, the route from evidence to policy may mean that disciplines are disincentivised from collaborating, instead competing for influence over policy and seeking to demonstrate that ‘their’ discipline and practices have the greatest impact.
