La valenza politica dei modelli scientifici

The paper investigates the political role of scientific modeling within emergency governance, focusing on the intertwined production of knowledge, legitimacy, and public trust. By employing Wendy Parker’s adequacy-for-purpose framework, it contends that models derive their value not merely from predictive accuracy but from their practical capacity to guide decision-making under conditions of uncertainty. The example of nuclear energy demonstrates how modeling practices bring together technical, ethical, and political forms of reasoning, turning risk assessment into a vehicle for public accountability. Evidence drawn from the Rapporto Demetra 2025 and comparative analyses of European energy strategies indicates that legitimacy stems primarily from transparency and participatory processes rather than from epistemic authority alone. Ultimately, the paper suggests that nuclear regulation embodies a wider principle of “constitutionalized risk,” in which uncertainty itself becomes a foundational component of democratic governance and collective learning.