Epistemology of Ignorance in Governance and Public Policy

The epistemology of ignorance examines the deliberate and systemic production, maintenance and deployment of non-knowledge within governance and public policy. Rather than a mere absence of information, ignorance is understood as an active, constitutive element shaping policy agendas, institutional priorities and power relations. Scholars explore how states and organisations employ deliberate ignorance, institutional amnesia and wilful blindness to navigate accountability, manage uncertainty or preserve hierarchical advantage. In global climate governance, for instance, certain intersections of gender and colonial history are routinely sidelined in adaptation policies, while in migration control regimes governments may adopt strategies of denial or resignation in the face of irregular flows. Similarly, the rhetoric employed during public health emergencies can invoke a ‘politics of impossibility’, framing inaction as inevitable. By interrogating the structural, discursive and affective dimensions of non-knowledge, research in this field illuminates the ways in which ignorance is produced, sustained and occasionally challenged, with practical implications for transparency, inclusivity and democratic deliberation.

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Epistemology of Ignorance in Governance and Public Policy publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in epistemology of ignorance in governance and public policy across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Epistemology of ignorance: The study of the production, structuring and implications of non-knowledge in social and political contexts.

Agnotology: The investigation of culturally induced ignorance or doubt, often through the deliberate creation of uncertainty.

Deliberate ignorance: A conscious decision by individuals or institutions to avoid or suppress relevant information.

Institutional amnesia: The process by which organisations lose or discard critical knowledge over time, often due to staff turnover or poor record-keeping.

Wilful blindness: A routine or affective state in which actors avoid acknowledging inconvenient moral or factual realities.

References

1. Foucault’s error: The power of not knowing. European Review of Social Psychology (2024).
2. Unraveling the production of ignorance in climate policymaking: The imperative of a decolonial feminist intervention for transformation. Environmental Science & Policy (2023).
3. Liberal fatalism, COVID 19 and the politics of impossibility. Economy and Society (2024).
4. “What isn't in the files, isn't in the world”: Understanding state ignorance of irregular migration in Germany and the United Kingdom. Governance (2020).