Dialogue, governance, and biotechnology: acknowledging the context of the conversation

Abstract

Over the past decade we have seen an increasing emphasis on public engagement or dialogue in relation to controversial aspects of science and technology. This phenomenon is the product of a number of factors, of which I would highlight three: * Unexpected, widespread, and sustained public opposition to some commercial applications of biotechnology (and fears that other emerging technologies would be similarly received); * The intensification of pressure on governments to improve the “international competitiveness” of their economies, and the widespread embrace of the “knowledge economy” as the favoured vehicle for accomplishing this; * The direct and indirect influence of some elements of social science research (namely the discrediting of the “deficit model”).