Modeling Parliamentary Technology Assessment in Relational Terms. Mediating Between the Spheres of Parliament, Government, Science and Technology, and Society

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In: Technikfolgenabschätzung – Theorie und Praxis, 24. Jg., Heft 1, Februar 2015, S. 11-20This article describes parliamentary technology assessment (PTA) in relational terms.1 We conceptualize PTA as fulfilling a mediating function between the spheres of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. This mediation is thought to take place through a set of interaction mechanisms on the institutional, organizational and/or project level that enable and constrain the involvement of actors from the above-mentioned four social spheres in shaping the practice of PTA. This enables us to model, map, and analyze how PTA in various European countries and regions is set up to interact with members of parliament, government, science and technology, and society. We found that the possible relationships between the PTA organization and each of the four social spheres have to be analyzed and carefully designed when thinking about setting up PTA. Countries with an interest in setting up PTA are not restricted to existing institutional models, but may create a model that is particularly suited to their own political and societal environment.