Bourblanc, Magalie2019-05-152019-04Bourblanc, M. 2019, 'Expert assessment as a framing exercise : the controversy over green macroalgal blooms’ proliferation in France', Science and Public Policy, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 264-274.0302-3427 (print)1471-5430 (online)10.1093/scipol/scy056http://hdl.handle.net/2263/69130This article contributes to unraveling the ‘paradox of scientific authority’, that is, the fact that despite the loss of authority of scientific expertise, policymakers still resort to expert advice. Re-examining the role ascribed to expert assessment in the policy-making process in controversial contexts in particular, the article succeeds in demonstrating that one of the crucial roles of expert evaluation is to establish a more compelling definition of the problem to be dealt with by policymakers. Taking the scientific controversy surrounding the proliferation of green algal bloom on Brittany beaches (France) as a case in point, I show that expert assessment conceived as a framing exercise is, however, a two-way process: it is as much about framing for the sake of settling an expert dispute with sound scientific categories than about solving public problems in a sufficiently consensual way, taking into account the distribution of power more generally in society.en© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.Expert assessmentPolicy-making processExpert evaluationGreen algal bloomBrittany beaches (France)Postprint Article