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.

• We started tracking this book on November 12, 2013.
• This book was $17.02 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 141 times in the past 4,379 days.
• The current price of this book is $37.01 last checked 4 hours ago.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past 90 days is $32.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $30.99.
• The lowest price to date was $17.02 last reached on November 12, 2013.
• This book has been $17.02 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $44.00 last reached on March 14, 2025.
• This book has been $44.00 3 times since we started tracking it.

• Politics & Social SciencesPolitics & GovernmentInternational & World PoliticsRelations
• Science & MathBiological SciencesBiotechnology
• FrancePublic Policy

• Publication Date: June 27, 2011
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 391 Pages
• File Size: 19 KB