Political culture is crucial, argues John Mugabe

On the whole, creating commissions is not a guarantee for citizens’ participation in science and technology policy-making. More is required.

Citizens’ participation in science and technology policy processes cannot be reduced to the mere organization of commissions, public hearings events or consensus conferences involving ordinary people.

Different institutional arrangements are needed for different political cultures. The nature and level of democratic governance largely determine the kinds of institutional arrangements best suitable for citizens’ participation.

What democracies can do

Democratic regimes are expected to create political space for citizens to articulate their views and hopefully influence the design of technology missions and programmes. There are constitutional obligations imposed on such regimes to facilitate citizens’ participation in decision-making.

In such circumstances, government is often required to ensure that citizens have access to the necessary information. Access to information, including on scientific and technical issues, is a citizen’s right. Courts of law are there to enforce it.

Non-democratic governments

These are unlikely to allow citizens to coalesce around public issues and engage in debates on science and technology. Citizens’ commissions are likely to be perceived or treated by such governments as institutional arrangements that undermine the authority of those in executive positions or power. 

The challenge in these circumstances is not to create commissions but to enlarge constitutional foundations for citizens’ participation in public policy. This would involve introducing into national constitutional provisions the right to access information as an entitlement, and vesting responsibility on government to make information available to citizens. It will also require protection of press freedom in order to ensure that the media plays an active role in science communication.

A political culture and related constitutional provisions that give liberties or freedoms to citizens to know and voice their views and concerns are necessary to democratize science and technology decision-making.

Dr John Mugabe is Director of the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development) Office of Science and Technology, and a member of the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology