Abstract

The debate on the relationship between technoscience and participation has gained increasing importance during the last decades. In this essay I propose some of the most relevant prospects of the STS studies and issues intertwining with other disciplines. The request of public engagement is a phenomenon that allows to explore the dense textures that bind the practice of citizenship and the demands of knowledge and increasing involvement in issues of great public impact. Among them we can cite as examples information technology, biotechnology, the high-speed railway lines as paradigmatic areas of high tension among citizens, experts, and institutions. First of all an analysis of some democratic traditions should be given trying to describe different participatory contexts and some emerging styles that have enabled the involvement of citizens compared with the techno-scientific innovations. Secondly, I examine the relationship between experts and non experts. The theoretical approaches and procedures relating to citizenship and participation have identified contrasting solutions to address the relationship between experts and citizens by opening or closing spaces for dialogue in which recognize or exclude different types of knowledge. In the last section I present the principles and guidelines of the most recent forms of citizens involvement that emphasize new concepts of democratic participation and special relationship between actors, trying to draw a map of the limitations and opportunities they offer under democratic regimes.