ABSTRACT
The use of public engagement instruments in the governance of complex science and technology matters is now de rigeur in liberal democratic nations, tempering the combined drives for scientific progress and market competitiveness with often more precautionary human values approaches. This has not always been the case. Where previously many states depended almost solely on expert opinion to inform and legitimate policy decisions, increasingly there is evidence of a reliance on public input in policy development. The reasons for this shift lie within the context of modernity. Interrogating the relationship in wealthy liberal democracies between modernity, governance and public inquiries, this chapter uses a comparative approach located in two liberal democracies: Canada and New Zealand (also known by the Ma-ori name ‘Aotearoa’). The Canadian Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies (RCNRT) and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Royal Commission on Genetic Modification (RCGM) operated in different national contexts, in different policy arenas; through comparison of their processes and outcomes, patterns emerge which offer insights towards a more reflexive design for public engagement mechanisms.
