Creative Democracy: Systematic Conflict Resolution and Policymaking in a World of High Science and Technology [Hardcover]

Radical new technologies are developing in Western societies at ever-increasing rates but contemporary democracies often lack the appropriate organizational forms to confront these developments.Creative Democracydiscusses the failure of politicians and democratic institutions to cope with modern challenges, and proposes a specific strategy to address these problems in contemporary society. The authors propose new strategies to increase public awareness of, and democratic control over, major technological developments explaining the advantage of democratic discourse and consensus formation over voting, and insisting that scientists must work with politicians to formulate and articulate their alternative futures for major technological developments. Overall,Creative Democracyprovides a thorough, scholarly and practical analysis in support of democratic dialogue.

TOM R. BURNS is Professor of Sociology at The University of Uppsala, Sweden, and Clarence J. Robinson Professor at George Mason University. He is also program co-director, Social Science Theory and Methodology Program, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences.

REINHARD UEBERHORST has been a member of the German Parliament and the West Berlin Parliament. He served as chairman of the German Parliamentary Commission on Future Nuclear Energy Policy. At present he is a member of the Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry, Technology Assessment and is a member of the Social Democractic Party's Commission on Basic Values. He writes on current issues and runs a policy consulting office in Germany.

Foreword, by Willy Brandt
Introduction: The Global Challenge
Technology and Society
Science and Politics: Studies in Competing Logics
Democratic Discourse, Expertise, and Alternative Futures
Systematic Democratic Discourse: Issues, Legitimacy, and Power