eBook

Designs on Nature

Jasanoff, Sheila

2011,2005,2008,2007,2015

Overview

Biology and politics have converged today across much of the industrialized world. Debates about genetically modified organisms, cloning, stem cells, animal patenting, and new reproductive technologies crowd media headlines and policy agendas. Less noticed, but no less important, are the rifts that have appeared among leading Western nations about the right way to govern innovation in genetics and biotechnology. These significant differences in law and policy, and in ethical analysis, may in a globalizing world act as obstacles to free trade, scientific inquiry, and shared understandings of human dignity. In this magisterial look at some twenty-five years of scientific and social development, Sheila Jasanoff compares the politics and policy of the life sciences in Britain, Germany, the United States, and in the European Union as a whole. She shows how public and private actors in each setting evaluated new manifestations of biotechnology and tried to reassure themselves about their safety. Three main themes emerge. First, core concepts of democratic theory, such as citizenship, deliberation, and accountability, cannot be understood satisfactorily without taking on board the politics of science and technology. Second, in all three countries, policies for the life sciences have been incorporated into \"nation-building\" projects that seek to reimagine what the nation stands for. Third, political culture influences democratic politics, and it works through the institutionalized ways in which citizens understand and evaluate public knowledge. These three aspects of contemporary politics, Jasanoff argues, help account not only for policy divergences but also for the perceived legitimacy of state actions.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press,Princeton Univ. Press
• Subject: Abortion / Accountability / Activism / Adviser / Agriculture / Bioethics / Bioethik / Biological Sciences / Biotechnologie / Biotechnology / Bundestag / Civil society / Commercialization / Comparative analysis / Contemporary society / Coproduction (public services) / Credibility / Criticism / Deliberation / Democracy / Democracy and science / Democracy and science -- Europe / Democracy and science -- United States / Demokratie / Deutschland / Directive (European Union) / Disenchantment / Distrust / Emerging technologies / Engineering law / Environmental movement / Epistemology / Ethik / EU-Staaten / Europa / Europe / European Commission / Forschungsgegenstand / Forschungspolitik / Genetic engineering / Genetically modified crops / Genetically modified food / Genetically modified organism / Genetics / Gentechnik / Governance / Großbritannien / Guideline / Human Genome Project / In vitro fertilisation / Indication (medicine) / Institution / Intellectual property / International Relations / JPQB / Knowledge society / Legislation / Legitimation / Member state / Modernity / Molecular biology / Narratives / Nation state / Nuffield Council on Bioethics / PDR / Policy / Political culture / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General / Politician / Politics / Princeton University Press / Public Policy / Public sphere / Rationality / Regulation / Research and development / Result / Risk assessment / SCIENCE / SCIENCE / Biotechnology / Science and technology / Science policy / Science, technology and society / Scientist / Social science / Sociology / Stem cell / Subsidy / TCB / Technologiepolitik / Technology / technology and society / Technology transfer / The Public Interest / U.S.A / Uncertainty / United States / USA / Verbraucherschutz / Vergleich / White paper
• ISBN: 9781400837311, 1400837316, 0691130426, 9780691130422, 9780691118116, 0691118116