Abstract
As public participation has received considerable attention in Europe, North America and newly democratic countries, various criteria for evaluating participatory methods have been developed to examine the quality and efficiency of participatory mechanisms. To guide the government’s consideration for potentially adopting the applications of GM technology and regulations, the UK Government initiated a nationwide public debate - the ”GM Nation? Debate” - on the controversies of GM technology during 2002-2003. The UK government adopted various participatory mechanisms, which included public meetings, narrow-but-deep groups, interactive website and workshops. This paper aims to examine the UK public debate on GM issues and to evaluate the process and outcome of the debate. It explores the particularities and limitations of the GM public debate in the UK, and provides suggestions for future public deliberations on science and technology in Taiwan. The research methods adopted are archival analysis and interviews. It shows that the foundation discussion workshop and narrow-but-deep groups achieve more efficiency in process evaluation, while the public meeting and interactive website generate less result. Public discussions raise the specific knowledge and capacity of the participants. They have a limited direct effect on policy decision-making, but have led to the government’s greater emphasis on public consultation and participation. Finally, this paper argues for the need to facilitate various forms of public participation, establish upstream engagement and create an accountability mechanism to promote public deliberation.
Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
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Pages (from-to) | 103-134 |
Journal | 公共行政學報 |
Volume | 41 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2011 |