Making a Global Model: The Case of National Bioethics Committees

• In Event: 479 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Practicing Models of Global Governance

Abstract

This paper traces how the “national bioethics committee” has evolved into a global policy model, thought to be universally applicable and a necessary part of the institutional structure of any nation state. World society theory explains the diffusion of global models by cultural similarities among actors and by emphasizing the role of legitimated “theorists”, such as scientists and consultants. An aspect left without much consideration is the question about through which kinds of activities a model or a script comes to be seen as an institutional imperative by local policymakers around the world. Existing studies often ignore these issues because of their emphasis on “top-down” mechanisms, where an original model is thought to be invented first through abstraction and then more or less unthinkingly copied by potential adopters around the world. The paper shows that the national bioethics committee was turned into a global model, a widely recognized “brand”, by activities of several actors who have taken part in its production through labeling, codification and consultation during the process where the model has already been spreading throughout the world.

Author

• Jukka Syväterä, University of Tampere