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The tragedy of citizen deliberation – two cases of participatory technology assessment

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 25; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09537325.2012.751012

1465-3990

Mikko Rask,

Innovation, Technology, and Society

Abstract Despite welcoming rhetoric and increased practice of citizen participation in S&T governance, there is little evidence of the political impact of such processes. In this paper I will analyse how the roadblocks to translating the results of citizen participation to effective policy making manifested in the context of two transnational participatory technology assessment projects, global-level World Wide Views on Global Warming (WWViews) and EU-level Citizen Visions of on Science, Technology and Innovation (CIVISTI). Resulting from the analysis, three types of roadblocks are identified: (1) diffuse understanding of the usability of deliberation as a component of policy making (cognitive level); (2) inadequate infrastructures for facilitating the translation of public-interest oriented deliberations into effective public policy (structural level); (3) inadequate resources and skills in deliberative bodies for effective social outreach of participatory processes (operational level). The paper contributes to more effective pTA by proposing a new 'guiding vision' for citizen deliberations, anticipating more influential policy pathways and proposing new skills for pTA. Keywords: citizen deliberationgovernanceparticipatory technology assessmentroadblocktragedytransnational Acknowledgements The author is grateful to the national coordinators of the CIVISTI project for provision of information, and to Mr Mika Saastamoinen and Ms Taina Pohjoisaho for their help in preparing the figures. The comments by the two anonymous reviewers helped to develop the argument. The research for this paper was supported by the Academy of Finland Grant number 250234. Notes These challenges were discussed by Arie Rip in his plenary speech in 'Tentative Governance In Emerging Science and Technology' conference, 28–29 October, 2010, at the University of Twente. See e.g. the MASIS project, http://www.masis.eu/english/. Dietz and Stern Citation(2008), however, argue that in the field of environmental decision making there is evidence of a positive correlation between participation and increased quality, legitimacy and capacity of decision making. This may point to a potential difference between environmental and S&T policy fields. Twelve case studies from 11 countries analysing the experiences of the WWViews project are reported in the book Rask, Worthington, and Lammi Citation(2011). Interview materials consist of five pre-COP15 and three post-COP15 semi-structured interviews with Finnish COP15 delegates and other authorities working with climate policy, for the study of policy expectations and effects in WWViews (see Rask and Laihonen 2011) and six manager interviews of CIVISTI partners, for the study of policy effects. An exit survey asking for feedback from the citizens participating to the WWViews consultation was conducted in 16 countries and 21 sites; feedback from the participation to the CIVISTI consultations are reported in an evaluation report 'Evaluation of the FP7 project CIVISTI' by Brandstetter et al. Citation(2011). Andersson and Shahrokh Citation(2011) identify the following international pTAs: Meeting of Minds (2006); European Citizens' Panels (2006–2007); Deliberative poll on the future of Europe (2007); European Citizens' Consultation I (2007) and II (2009) and World Wide Views on Global Warming (2009). Many of these changes are captured in the notions of 'reflexive modernisation' (e.g. Beck Citation2000; Giddens Citation1990) and 'Mode 2' knowledge production (Gibbons et al. Citation2000; Nowotny, Scott, and Gibbons Citation2002). See www.wwviews.org. See www.civisti.org. WWViews with its larger panel size and coordinated voting procedures resembled deliberative polling and citizen summit procedures, whereas CIVISTI was inspired by Ortwin Renn's Citation(2006) model of 'co-operative discourse' where different contributory roles are attributed to citizens, experts and stakeholders. For WWViews, see Rask, Worthington, and Lammi Citation(2011); CIVISTI coordinators interviewed for this paper, a month after the end of the project, reported of no evidence of direct political impacts. The survey question asked to prioritise five different motivations (learning; communicating with other people; be involvement in decision making, involvement in global debate and travel and have new experiences); 'to travel and have new experiences' was considered the least important motivation. The survey results can be obtained from the WWViews research community by contacting the author of this paper. Citizens participating to CIVISTI Bulgaria (N=25) and Austria (N=21) were surveyed for the evaluation report. To contrast, the consensus conference with its sample of 10–16 citizens is regarded as adequate in representing different societal view points and discourses, by advocates and scholars of pTA (e.g. Joss and Durant Citation1995). The Danish Minister of Climate and Energy, Connie Hedegaard and the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover More, for example, were among the active political ambassadors of WWViews. See http://www.350.org/en/mission. The late timing of the WWViews project (September 2009) in relation to the COP15 climate negotiation process (December 2009) was clearly another obstacle for its political adaptation. In CIVISTI, however, the rule of uncontrolled outputs was put in test. The method provided a chance for the citizens to freely raise any issue that they would consider essential for their futures; therefore it was reflected whether there are moral obligations to the organisers to suppress opinions that express racist, sexist or otherwise prejudiced views. Since scanning of emerging issues was the main goal of the project, however, the consortium decided to set legality, instead of high morals, as the limit of expression. A continued functional crises can turn into an institutional legitimacy crises, as perhaps took place while the Danish government decided to close down DBT despite its role as an internationally renowned institute in developing citizen participation methods (see www.tekno.dk/, accessed 13 January 2012). DBT Newsletter, 22 March 2011.