Perpetual loss and gain: Translation, estrangement and cyclical recurrence of experience based knowledges in public action

The “Knowledge and Policy”1 project illuminates several forms of non-standardised knowledge influencing political decision making. Various terms have been employed by the project teams, but in this article we designate “experience based knowledge” as the common denominator of these knowledge forms. The following article stems from the qualitative synthesis of the country reports of the project. After discussing the problems of defining experience based knowledge we discuss its potentials and limits in policymaking. The analysis emphasises the changing and volatile nature of this knowledge: during translation into policy terms it is transformed almost beyond recognisability. This is not however the end of the process – just the beginning of a new cycle.