Perception–Participation–Regulation Interfaces in the Dynamics of Public Policies on Science, Technology, and the Environment

Abstract

The prevailing place of science and technology in the present world, as well as the politic evolution of societies towards an extended public participation, has created in the last times a new framework for the relationships between science and society. The public policies of science and technology must take into account this new reality, and for their design and follow up it becomes necessary to count with indicators of reception and social implication in science and technology, which allow a better understanding of the interaction between public perception of science, civic participation and public regulation of their policies. This article exposes a case study on these issues, focusing on the problem of the re-settlement with eucalyptus in Northern Spain, and from there it analyses some ways of interaction between social perception of science, civic participation and public regulation. In this case appears the raising of a scientific culture, through the mobilization of interest groups and citizens associations, and the implication of the mass media, into a shape which doesn’t escape from the necessity of keeping the discussion into the scientific and technical sphere, as a way to attain the public legitimacy.