Unpacking Performances of Science Politicisation

The 'rightful place of science' and the authority of knowledge it produces are continuously renegotiated, currently amid backlashes against sustainability efforts, rising post-democratic dynamics, and renewed geopolitical and military tensions. In these contexts, diverse actors – from researchers and governmental bodies to the military and (authoritarian) politicians – actively reshape scientific practices, funding streams, and institutions, often invoking varying interpretations of what academic freedom is. Science thus is both object and instrument of political struggle: deeply politicised yet frequently framed as apolitical by those engaged in its politicisation. Political science has long examined ‘the political’ in science, showcasing how power, funding and research agendas shape knowledge production. Science and Technology Studies (STS) extends these insights by foregrounding ontological implications, showing how science helps bring social and political worlds into being. Despite this rich scholarship, the question of how politicisation unfolds in practice, particularly in contemporary struggles, remains underexamined. We address this gap building on an in-depth dialogue between political science and STS, proposing to conceptualise the politicisation of science as a strategic performance. We start from the premise that science is inherently political and may at times become politicised when this political character becomes visible, contested or strategically enacted. Politicisation, in this perspective, is then not a by-product of conflict or the exploitation of scientific uncertainty. Instead, it is an active process that raises questions about what science is or ought to be, how politicisation is staged, by whom, and to what ends. We illustrate our theoretical argument through empirical vignettes drawn from sustainability science and security-related research, including controversies surrounding PFAS regulation, and dual-use research. We argue that the politicisation of science inevitably serves to reimagine its ‘rightful place’, foregrounding questions of authority and legitimacy over who gets to (re)imagine science and how that shapes the worlds we inhabit.