Experts´ Credibility Strategies in Decision-Making Arenas

This article, grounded in Science and Technology Studies (STS), examines the process of credibility and authority building by experts in decision-making arenas, particularly in public hearings held in the Brazilian National Congress. The research was conducted through discourse analysis of public hearings held in the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate regarding the legislative proposal for the general framework of environmental licensing, between 2019 and 2022. The study's results indicate that certain performative rituals are common to scientific advising, even when experts represent groups with divergent positions in the debate. In this context, the authors propose the category of "credibility strategies" which refers to the resources mobilized by experts to build credibility and respond to conflict spaces.