ABSTRACT
In which manner science and technology (S&T) policy initiatives are triggered and carried out is a question of critical importance. The study of how different actors play their roles in launching and implementing diverse policy initiatives, and the circumstances surrounding their actions (including the institutional framework) provides important insights for the design of viable science and technology policies. The viability and effectiveness of a particular S&T policy are heavily dependent upon the relative composition of political forces and coalitions encompassing these agents’ actions. In addition, the nature of the political regime and its proneness to manipulation by interest groups, its flexibility or its rigidities, its capabilities for response to different demands from political actors and of international context-all of these are determinant variables of the applicability of S&T policy.2
