Universities and public deliberation: bringing expertise to the people

This article makes two points: first, that greater public deliberation is needed to enhance the democratic steering of technological change and, second, that universities are particularly well situated to provide an institutional foundation for such deliberations. Existing problems with policy making about issues with significant scientific and/or technological components are considered, along with the prospect that structured public deliberation might help close an evident democratic deficit in scientific and technological policy making. Several kinds of public deliberations are described, with special emphasis on the Danish Consensus Conference model. The basic requirements for effective public deliberations are discussed, along with several issues that need fundamental research. Finally, a scenario of multiple public deliberative exercises scaled at the national level is discussed.