Transparency and Accountability in Science and Politics: The Awareness Principle

271 Pages·2008·1.02 MB·English

by  Kjell Andersson (auth.)

Transparency and
Accountability in
Science and Politics
The Awareness Principle
Kjell Andersson
Transparency and Accountability in Science and Politics
This page intentionally left blank
Transparency and
Accountability in
Science and Politics
The Awareness Principle
Kjell Andersson
ManagingDirector
KaritaResearch,Sweden
©KjellAndersson2008
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-54217-4
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Firstpublished2008by
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Andersson,Kjell,1947
Transparencyandaccountabilityinscienceandpolitics:the
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1. Science Socialaspects. 2. Scienceandstate. 3. Decision
making Moralandethicalaspects. 4. Politicalscience Decision
making. 5. Awareness. I.Title.
Q175.5.A534 2008
338.9’26 dc22 2008015057
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
Contents
ListofTablesandFigures viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
1. TheDemocraticChallenge 6
2. ScienceHasLostItsEthos 10
Theidealsofscientificconduct 10
Thecommercializationofscience 11
Dowehaveresearchcartels? 17
BalancesheetofMerton 18
Atwo-tieredacademy? 20
Narrowexpertframing 23
Expertattitudestowardscitizens 26
Socialconstruction? 29
Scienceinademocraticsociety 31
3. Values,Emotions,InterestsandRationality 33
Whatdowemeanbyvalues? 33
Perceptionandemotions 35
Vestedinterest 37
Theelitistviewofordinarypeople 39
Fourthemes 41
4. RadioactiveWasteManagement 43
Setbacksinnuclearwastemanagementprogrammes 44
ProgressinSweden,FinlandandEurope 50
UnitedStates 56
Somelessonslearned 59
Expertslearnslowly 63
5. RiskAssessmentandRiskManagement 65
Riskinformeddecision-making 65
Canrisksbecomparedandcontrolled? 67
Thecaseofradiationprotection 70
v
vi Contents
Willthenewapproachprevail? 73
Theevolvingriskconcept 74
Riskperceptionandpolitics 76
Canweincludepublicvaluesinriskassessment? 78
Theprecautionaryprinciple 81
6. BiotechnologyandNanotechnologies 86
ThecaseofGMO 87
Nanotechnologies 94
Whatisahumanbeing? 102
7. GlobalWarming 104
Asolutiontotheglobalwarmingproblem? 106
8. ExamplesfromOtherAreas 109
Foodsafety 109
Cleaning-upandrestorationofcontaminatedsites 111
Thepossibleriskswithmobiletelephones 113
Comment 118
9. LessonsLearned 119
Firsttheme–narrowframing 119
Secondtheme–instrumentalrationality 121
Thirdtheme–commercializationofscience 122
Fourththeme–researchcartelsandknowledgemonopolies 123
Convergingtrends 126
10. InsightsintoDemocraticTheory–andtheAwareness
Principle 127
11. AwarenessandTransparency 133
Thethreebuildingblocksforawareness 133
Transparency 135
TheRISCOMmodelinpractice 138
12. PublicInvolvement 141
Publicparticipationprocesses 142
Whatisagoodprocess? 149
Umbrellaprocessesofpublicparticipation 156
Internationalconventions 166
Communicationormanipulation? 170
13. TheDemocraticParadox 175
Legaldemocracy–thenewright 175
Participatorydemocracy–thenewleft 176
Canrepresentativedemocracybevitalised? 181
Contents vii
14. ThePublicSphere–MassMediaandJournalism 184
Theideaofapublicsphere 184
Newsjournalismasentertainment 189
Investigativejournalism 190
Sciencejournalism 191
Mediaconglomerates 193
Civicjournalism 193
Thenewmediaandthepublicsphere 195
Theinfluenceonpolitics 197
Transparencyjournalism 198
15. SettingtheValuesFirst–towardsaNewParadigm 201
16. PrinciplesforNewArenas 205
17. InstitutionalAnchoring 208
Wedon’tneedtostartfromscratch! 208
Learnbydoingorrelyonlegislation? 209
Newinstitutionalsettings 210
Anewsocietalidentity 213
Thepoliticalresponsibility 214
18. FinalRemarks 218
Notes 221
References 230
Bibliography 244
Index 245
List of Tables and Figures
Tables
12.1 ThestructureoftheEIAprocessinKalmarcounty 160
15.1 Statusofparadigmshiftinsomeareas 204
Figures
11.1 TheRISCOMtriangle 137
12.1 Contextofpublicparticipationprocesses 152
12.2 Capacityofprocesseswithrespecttoelementsofstretching
andhowthepublicisinvolved 152
12.3 Capacityofprocesseswithrespecttoelementsofstretching
anddegreeofconsensusbuildingversusbeingadversarial 153
12.4 Modeofpublicinvolvementandamountofconsensus
buildingversusadversarialcharacterofstudiedprocedures 154
viii
Preface
Today our society meets tremendous challenges in many areas such as
biotechnology, food safety, energy production, environmental protection
andinformationtechnology. Ontheonehandscientificandtechnological
advancesofferhugepotentialbenefitsforhealth,qualityoflifeandeconomic
development. Ontheothertherearenewriskstotheenvironment, health
andsocialjustice.Advancesingenomicsandinformationtechnologychal-
lenge basic values such as human integrity and even our perception of life
itself.
Such issues are only partly of a technical and scientific nature and they
constitute sources of social concern and major democratic challenges to
the post-modern society. It is critical that they are not met by technocratic
decision-makingorsimplylefttomarketforcestosolve,butareinsteaddealt
withinarationalandtransparentwaythatallowsconsciousdecision-making
withpublicinsightandparticipation.However,ourpolicy-makingstructures
don’tseemcapableofdoingthis.Thecoreoftheproblemistheongoingdis-
integrationofsocietalstructures.Weusedtorelyonuniversityprofessorsto
beneutralwitnessesoffact,mediatobeindependentseekersoftruth,polit-
icianstohavefirmvaluesystemsandindustrialiststomakemoney.Nowall
thesegroupsseemmoreorlesstobeactorsonthesamemarketofideasand
interest. As a result, ordinary citizens lose trust in them and, in the worst
case,insocietyitself.
Highlevelpolicy-makersareawareofthisstateofaffairsbutthereisalsomuch
frustrationsincethereisnosolutioninsight.Theideaofpublicparticipation
in decision-making has been launched as a way to restore trust by making
citizens more involved. There are quite a number of processes that have
been developed for this purpose, however, there is no way to know which
one of them is the best alternative in a specific situation. Instead, public
participation has become just another area on the market where different
processesofparticipationarebeinglaunchedandpromoted.
Thisbookarguesthatwemustvitalizeourprocessesfordecision-makingin
order to maintain a living democracy. The awareness of societal problems
must be increased among both the politicians and the citizens who elect
them.Tosomeextent,therenewalmustcreatenewinstitutionalstructures.
Equallyimportantly,itwillmeananewwayofthinkingandanewapproach
tothecomplexproblemswehavetosolvewithinexistingpoliticalstructures.
ix