1. Introduction 2. Political decisions and knowledge 2.1 Core elements of the "cognitive turn" in policy analysis 2.2 The "cognitive turn" in policy analysis and its relation to a post-positivist interpretive political science 3. Governance and knowledge 3.1 The governance debate 3.2 Different "governing orders" and the "three worlds of democratic action" - and the location of knowledge in them 3.3 Knowledge in the context of different governing orders and the "three worlds of democratic action" 3.4 Choices of interpretation and choices from a range of available knowledge - and the challenges of a "post-truth" era 4. Reflections on knowledge orders 4.1 Introductory remarks 4.2 What constitutes a knowledge order? 4.3 The content of a knowledge order. Empirical illustrations 4.4 The structure of a knowledge order. Empirical illustrations 4.5 The process level of a knowledge order - and the mechanisms operating it 4.6 Interim summary 5. Using communicative mechanisms for the formation of knowledge orders through discursive practices 5.1 The use of mechanisms of the development of knowledge orders through singular speech acts 5.2 The use of mechanisms of the development of knowledge orders through structured narratives 5.3 Interim summary 6. Knowledge politics 6.1 The concept of knowledge politics 6.2 Different foci of knowledge politics 6.3 Knowledge politics and possibilities of influencing knowledge orders discursively 6.4 Influencing knowledge orders through changes in their structure 6.5 Knowledge politics and the question of power 7. How to govern democratically in the (non-)knowledge society: problems and perspectives 7.1 Summary and outlook: the development of knowledge orders under conditions of limited time resources 7.2 Reflexive knowledge politics in a society characterized by ignorance 7.3 Scholars in the (non-)knowledge society and the action perspective of romantic ironists 7.4 The designs of the institutional setting of knowledge orders as a challenge for democratic governance References Index