This article explores how the appeal to depoliticized expertise worked to legitimize increased supervisory and executive power to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, after the 2015 refugee crisis. Frontex is an EU agency operating in a highly salient field, removed from hard-science “gold standards” of evidence, where member states have been reluctant to delegate power and sovereignty. Through a process-tracing case study, this article finds that appeals to technical neutrality, quantification, and objective indicators nevertheless were central when a new mandate for the agency was negotiated, giving Frontex unprecedented supervisory and executive power. They were also important resources for member states concerned about Frontex's increased powers. By focusing on an agency at a remove from the natural-science archetype, this article contributes to the literature on knowledge use in independent agencies. It suggests that technical expertise can be a powerful source of legitimacy even in a field removed from “hard” science.

中文翻译：

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更多权力，更多控制：难民危机后 Frontex 专业知识的合法化作用

本文探讨了在 2015 年难民危机之后，对非政治化专业知识的呼吁如何使欧洲边境和海岸警卫队机构 Frontex 的监督和行政权力合法化。Frontex 是一个在一个高度突出的领域运作的欧盟机构，脱离了硬科学的证据“黄金标准”，成员国一直不愿授予权力和主权。通过流程跟踪案例研究，本文发现，在协商新的机构授权时，诉诸技术中立性、量化和客观指标仍然是核心，赋予 Frontex 前所未有的监督和执行权。它们也是关注 Frontex 增加权力的成员国的重要资源。通过专注于远离自然科学原型的机构，本文有助于独立机构中有关知识使用的文献。它表明，即使在远离“硬”科学的领域，技术专长也可以成为合法性的强大来源。