"This collection of essays explores how democratic governments construct public reason--that is, the forms of evidence and argument used in making state decisions accountable to citizens. The objective is to investigate what societies do in practice when they claim to be reasoning in the public interest. Methodologically, the book is grounded in the field of science and technology studies (STS). It uses in-depth qualitative studies of legal and political practices to shed light on the cultural construction of public reason and the reasoning political subject"-- Provided by publisher.