Science, Technology and Public Policy

The development and diffusion of science innovative technologies is indispensable for modern society. However, despite its benefits, the development of science and technology is not without various risks and social problems. So far as we are going to make societal decisions for the use of science and technologies with diverse social implications that encompass both risks and benefits, sometimes involving values implications, there is a need for mechanisms of decision making and management of the development and utilization of science and technology. Decisions can be different depending on environmental, institutional and cultural conditions. In addition, innovative policy instruments/ mechanisms to deal with rapidly changing science and technology, including regulatory measures, are required for implementing decisions.
This course will deal with wide range of issues from local to global levels faced at the interface areas between science, technology and public policy from comparative perspective of Japan, the US and Europe. It offers key theoretical issues surrounding Science and Technology and provides students with the tools and frameworks, such as risk assessment/ management and transition management, to analyze them. This course invites students from both natural science backgrounds (i.e. the graduate school of engineering, new frontier science and so on) and social science backgrounds (graduate school of public policy, law and politics, and economics and public policy). We expect students to acquire interdisciplinary perspective in addition to their primary major, which is one of the critical skill in analyzing complex social technical issues posed by science and technology.