From responsibility to risk: ethics in the Bermuda Triangle of EU research and innovation policy

Abstract This paper aims to trace how the meaning of ethics in the research and innovation (R&I) sector is discursively and procedurally revised within two consecutive modes of legitimizing public policies in the European Union (EU), namely, good governance and better regulation. The text draws...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science & public policy 2024-04, Vol.51 (2), p.207-217
Main Author: Nikolova, Blagovesta I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ambiguity
Emptying
Ethics
Governance
Hegemony
Innovation policy
Innovations
Laclau, Ernesto (1935-2014)
Mouffe, Chantal
Science and technology
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Summary:Abstract This paper aims to trace how the meaning of ethics in the research and innovation (R&I) sector is discursively and procedurally revised within two consecutive modes of legitimizing public policies in the European Union (EU), namely, good governance and better regulation. The text draws insight from Ernesto Laclau’s work on discursivity, contingency, and hegemony and Chantal Mouffe’s critique of consensual political theories. It shows that with the policy transition from responsible innovation to breakthrough and disruptive innovation, the possibilities to employ ethics in interrogating the ambiguous nature of science and technology advancement become very limited. Ethics is currently construed as a means for unclogging the innovation process and embracing the collective production of risks. The paper demonstrates that the recent emptying of ethics within EU R&I is an expected effect of hegemonization practices and discursive configurations promoting and stabilizing the science–market alliance in science and policy relations.
ISSN:0302-3427
1471-5430
DOI:10.1093/scipol/scad066