Ideology
Technocracy
Holds that society should be governed by trained specialists who rely on data and expert knowledge, rather than by politicians or ideology, when making decisions about the economy and public policy.
Core ideas
- Political legitimacy comes from expertise and evidence rather than popular will alone.
- Decisions should follow efficiency-oriented methods such as cost-benefit analysis and risk management.
- Policy should aim at the long-term welfare of the whole society, not partisan interests.
- Experts, not elected politicians, are best placed to choose the means.
- In a weaker form, experts run specific functions such as central banking or public health within another system.
Where it sits on the 12 axes
It leans toward Security on the government axis (govt 80 on Security/Freedom), meaning a strong, directing administration, and mildly toward Collectivize on the economy axis (econ 60 on Collectivize/Privatize). Diplomacy leans toward Internationalism (dipl 60) and society is neutral (scty 50 on Progressive/Traditional). The test measures only distance over these four axes; it cannot tell whether you value expertise itself.
The bar shows the position on each of the four axes an ideology is matched on; the middle mark is the centre.
History
Early ideas of rule by the knowledgeable appear in the utopias of Plato, Francis Bacon and Henri de Saint-Simon. Bacon's New Atlantis argued that empirical scientists, not philosopher-kings, should rule. Frederick Winslow Taylor's scientific management brought efficiency methods into industry. In 1919 Howard Scott founded the Technical Alliance, from which a movement emerged in the 1930s, applying Thorstein Veblen's ideas to the Great Depression. Later examples of technocratic influence are found in centralized planning, development efforts and institutional design. Critics call it anti-democratic and doubt its claim to be value-neutral.
Associated thinkers
- Henri de Saint-Simon
- Howard Scott
Common misunderstandings
- It does not mean rule by tech companies or computer programmers. The experts can be scientists, economists, engineers or administrators.
- It is not automatically a dictatorship. In its weaker sense it describes democratic systems that delegate specific tasks to experts.
Related ideologies
Is Technocracy your closest ideology?
Take the test and see which of the ideologies your answers sit closest to.
Questions
What is Technocracy?
An expert-based type of governance. In its strongest sense decisions in all policy areas follow evidence-based, efficiency-oriented methods set by specialists; in a weaker sense experts run particular functions.
Is Technocracy left or right?
Neither. It is a form of government, not a side, and has been associated with movements of both left and right. This site files it under other for that reason, and a left-right line does not apply.
Technocracy vs democracy?
Democracy grounds legitimacy in the will of the people. Technocracy grounds it in expertise instead. One proposed way to combine them has elected officials set goals while technocrats choose the most efficient means.
How does the 12 Axes test decide I am Technocracy?
It compares your economy, government, diplomacy and society scores with each ideology's four stored values. Your high government score counts most here, and the smallest distance wins.