Healthy democracies rely on scientific evidence to inform environmental policies, support public health, and promote technological advancement. Science can serve as an independent voice to help society assess complex challenges, guiding governments away from threats and toward informed actions that keep people safe and prosperous. It offers a vital way to evaluate policies and hold decisonmakers accountable for the results.
That independence is why authoritarian regimes invariably target science and scientists. Authoritarianism acts as a relentless rip tide, pulling science beneath the surface of political control. Authoritarian regimes treat scientific evidence not as a tool calibrated by research, collaboration, and the free exchange of ideas, but as an obstacle to overcome.
What Does the Authoritarian Undertow Look Like?
Fabricating facts. Instead of using science to understand and communicate about the facts, an authoritarian regime forces facts to conform to political narratives. Remember “Sharpiegate” in 2019, when then-President Trump doctored the path of an official NOAA forecast to match his incorrect claim that a hurricane might strike Alabama? In the aftermath, administration political appointees tried to bully NOAA staff into retroactively confirming the President’s fabrications. It’s obvious why manipulating information about the path of severe weather can put people at risk, but we can see these tactics in subtler ways across issues like vaccination and climate change. Tampering with scientific findings is a tactic that allows authoritarian leaders to invent justifications for their own decisions and act with impunity
Weaponizing uncertainty. When bad actors can’t outright deny the facts, they can muddy the waters by creating the appearance of doubt. This approach was pioneered by the tobacco and fossil fuel industries, who cast robust academic debate as ignorance or confusion and exploited the idea of uncertainty to stave off regulations to protect people from the pollution they created. Uncertainty is a part of science, which relies on an iterative refinement of reliable and valid assessments, but it’s easily exploited to suggest that evidence simply doesn’t exist. If a political actor doesn’t want to take steps to acknowledge or address a problem, or they want to introduce misinformation in the place of clear evidence, they can simply claim that a lack of absolute precision should prevent any policy action. The intentional misreading of scientific methods causes paralysis, leaving societies vulnerable rather than prepared.
Silencing Scientific Navigators. The authoritarian approach is to actively suppress scientists who challenge official narratives. Through history, researchers working under authoritarian regimes are dismissed, threatened, or even imprisoned—isolated from the policy conversations they should help guide and cut off from being able to communicate their findings with the public. Rather than looking to scientists for impartial recommendations based on the best available science, we see the Trump administration ignoring career experts, cancelling funding for disfavored areas of research, and systematically dismantling scientific advisory committees. Silencing the voice of scientists inside and outside of government not only hampers scientific progress but also endangers public health and safety.
Accelerating a Brain Drain. The authoritarian approach penalizes open discourse about the best available science and what it means for policies and regulations. Facing professional dismissal and confiscation of assets and funding, scientists seek opportunities elsewhere. One striking example is the brain drain that has emerged from suppression of free speech and fear of political persecution in Turkey. Students and scientists understandably look to migrate to environments compatible with the pursuit of innovation, new knowledge, and solutions to complex problems. And the consequence for the population left behind is a halting economy, stifled innovation, less effective treatments for chronic and infectious diseases, and unsafe water and air.
Crumbling International Collaboration. Scientific progress relies on global collaboration to cross-pollinate theories and methods and achieve new insights and solutions, but the authoritarian approach restricts international partnerships by imposing travel bans or limiting access to foreign research institutions. This isolation reduces the exchange of knowledge and slows technological, environmental, economic, and societal advancement.
What Does the Chart to Safe Waters Look Like?
Science is part of a healthy democracy, and attacks on science are a clear red flag that political actors are trying to stamp out threats to their power. One vital antidote is adherence to the principles of scientific integrity. Government agencies must actively maintain scientific advisory committees and support rigorous scientific collaborations, letting researchers follow the science wherever it leads rather than dictating results from above.
The patterns we’re seeing today have a dark history and they pose real danger to all of us. Fortunately, the obliteration of the scientific infrastructure by the Trump administration is being noticed and met with fierce opposition from scientists and scientific societies, with support from science advocacy organizations through campaigns, trainings, toolkits, and fellowships. You can join these efforts to stop anti-science attacks by asking your elected officials to protect funding for life-saving science and planet-saving policies. We’ve done it successfully before and we’ll do it again, for science, for democracy, and for the world we want future generations to inherit.