Knowledge Democracy: Consequences for Science, Politics, and Media

Description

Knowledge democracy is an emerging concept that addresses the relationships between knowledge production and dissemination, as well as the functions of the media and democratic institutions. Although democracy has been the most successful concept of governance for societies for the last two centuries, representative democracy, which became the hallmark of advanced nation-states, seems to be in decline. Media politics is an important factor in the downfall of the original meaning of representation, yet more direct forms of democracy have not yet found an institutional embedding. Further, the Internet has also drastically changed the rules of the game, and a better educated public has broad access to information, selects for itself which types to examine, and ignores media filters. Some citizens have even become "media" themselves. In a time where the political agendas are filled with combatting so-called evils, new designs for the relationships between science, politics and media are needed. This book outlines the challenges entailed in pursuing a vital knowledge democracy. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Towards Knowledge Democracy....Pages 1-11 The harvest of the “Towards Knowledge Democracy” conference....Pages 13-24 Heads in the clouds: knowledge democracy as a Utopian dream....Pages 25-36 Dreaming about a properly informed democracy....Pages 37-48 One Man – One Vote – One Carbon Footprint: Knowledge for Sustainable Development....Pages 49-61 Unlocking the full potential of the crowd – a government perspective....Pages 63-72 Researching publics....Pages 73-85 Relevant Research in a Knowledge Democracy: Citizens’ Participation in Defining Research Agendas for Europe....Pages 87-98 Why more knowledge could thwart democracy: configurations and fixations in the Dutch mega-stables debate....Pages 99-111 Media, Democracy and Governance....Pages 113-124 How can transdisciplinary research contribute to knowledge democracy?....Pages 125-152 Knowledge synchronisation: interactive knowledge production between experts, bureaucrats and stakeholders....Pages 153-167 From “knowledge use” towards “boundary work”: sketch of an emerging new agenda for inquiry into science-policy interaction....Pages 169-186 The public knowledge challenge: where the management of cities and businesses converge towards creativity, innovation and prosperity....Pages 187-199 The governance of usable and welcome knowledge, two perspectives....Pages 201-225 Horizon scanning: monitoring plausible and desirable futures....Pages 227-240 Four steps to stimulate meaningful communication on sensitive issues in societal debate: the case of a research agenda for biotechnology and food in the Netherlands....Pages 241-253 Sustainable development and the governance of long-term decisions....Pages 255-281 Knowledge governance: complementing hierarchies, networks and markets?....Pages 283-297 The positioning of commissions in a knowledge democracy....Pages 299-313 Knowledge exchange through online political networks....Pages 315-325 Designing the conditions for an innovation system for sustainable development in a knowledge democracy....Pages 327-339 Back Matter....Pages 341-397