Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preliminary Material / A. Bora and H. Hausendorf -- Introduction: Governing Technology Through Public Participation / Alfons Bora and Heiko Hausendorf -- Chapter One. Discourse, Participation And Sociological Theory / Patrick O’Mahony -- Chapter Two. Biotechnologies And Communication: Participation For Democratic Processes / Giuseppe Pellegrini -- Chapter Three. Democratizing Agri-Biotechnology? European Public Participation In Agbiotech Assessment / Les Levidow -- Chapter Four. Making Sense On Participation: Herrschaft And Participatory Procedures In Administrative Decision-Making / Peter Münte -- Chapter Five. Law And Participation / Matthias Baier -- Chapter Six. Conflicting Forms Of Citizenship? Referrals And The Principle Of Transparency In Sweden / Henrik Rahm -- Chapter Seven. Participation In Italy: The Public And Genetically Modified Crops / Elena Collavin -- Chapter Eight. Communicating Quasi-Citizenship? Public Participation In Gmo-Release Permitting Procedures In Hungary – A Conversation Analytic Approach / Zsuzsanna Iványi , András Kertész and Kornélia Marinecz -- Chapter Nine. Participatory Technology Assessment And The “Institutional Void”: Investigating Democratic Theory And Representative Politics / Gabriele Abels -- Chapter Ten. Participation And Beyond. Dynamics Of Social Positions In Participatory Discourse / Alfons Bora and Heiko Hausendorf -- About The Authors / A. Bora and H. Hausendorf -- Index / A. Bora and H. Hausendorf.

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Participation of concerned actors and the public is a central element in the legal regulation of science and technology. In constitutional democracy, these participatory forms are governed by the rule of law. The volume critically examines participatory governance in this realm and makes suggestions with respect to further institutional and political-cultural developments. It assembles contributions of a broad interdisciplinary range within a comparative research programme, opening the black box of participatory governance in legal procedure. The contributions are the result of almost a decade of fruitful discussion between he authors. They also demonstrate the potential of a cross-disciplinary approach that stretches from sociology, via political science and jurisprudence to hermeneutics, linguistics and conversation analysis. Contributors are Gabriele Abels, Matthias Baier, Alfons Bora, Elena Collavin, Heiko Hausendorf, Zsuzsanna Iványi, András Kertész, Les Levidow, Kornélia Marinecz, Peter Münte, Patrick O’Mahony, Giuseppe Pellegrini, and Henrik Rahm.