ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the next subsequent chapter. The part focuses on how actors confront critical issues about the governance of knowledge at all of the different levels. It analyses the norms currently employed by the scientific community in using "the concept of race". The part presents the study of how the British government responded to the problem of risk and uncertainty involving Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy—or what is commonly known as "mad cow disease". It provides some of the governance issues raised by the debate about genetically-modified foods. The part explains the complexity of the governance of science, perhaps we can gain some insight into how to study the subject by borrowing from the literature on the governance of economic sectors. There are a variety of mechanisms for the governance or coordination of actors: the state, the market, corporate hierarchies, networks, and associations.
