In recent years, there has been growing concern that science has become increasingly political. In other words, scientists and others claim that the political system has engaged (and some even say interfered) with the directions and practices of science like never before. Science and politics, however, have been intertwined for well over a century. This entry explores how the political environment shapes scientific research, and conversely, how science and scientists operate in the political environment. The entry closes with a discussion of recent shifts in this relationship and, in particular, the new players who have emerged to problematize the role of science as the guiding ideology of modern times.

In the United States, the government has funded research and therefore directed scientific agendas in significant ways ...