Silent agents affected by legislation: from an insufficient knowledge base to inclusive solutions (SILE)

Public description of the goals at the beginning of the project

Legislation is a powerful instrument affecting all living beings, and if it is based on deficient knowledge, it could cause unintentional harm to those affected. The risk is especially high for those with very few means, due their social position or circumstances, to participate in the knowledge production that informs law drafting. We call them silent agents because others speak about them and for them. Thus, the project addresses the need to broaden the knowledge base of legislative drafting to include their perspectives. The analyses focus particularly on silent agents whose social position arouses morally charged tensions and dilemmas. The main data consist of legislative documents, interviews and documented encounters with interaction partners. In collaboration with them, the project will generate new working methods to facilitate the building of inclusive and transparent legislation that is socially and ethically sustainable and based on comprehensive knowledge.