Civil Society and the Governance of Genomic Revolution

• In Event: New Challenges in Technology Governance

Abstract

Advances in genome editing are affecting societies and ecosystems around the world. The impact of genome editing on humans, non-human animals, and plants, among others, is set to grow significantly. The developments that are taking place with respect to genome editing, however, seem to have significant limitations from a democratic standpoint. Some governance remedies to address these limitations have been suggested. The role that social movements might give in democratizing these processes has been overlooked, instead. To address this gap this paper offers an overview of the main social movements mobilized around genome editing issues. Further, it explores the democratic features of these social movements focusing on their organizational structures, repertoires of action and networks. The paper also investigates the contribution social movements seem to make to democratize developments in genome editing in different contexts. Our analysis is global in scope and is based on extensive online research about social movements mobilizing around genome editing issues and a qualitative analysis of their documents. Our assessments are grounded in concepts from contemporary debates in democratic theory.

Authors

• Federica Frazzetta, Scuola Normale Superiore

• Andrea Felicetti, Scuola Normale Superiore