Globalisation as reflexive modernization: Implications for S&T governance

The chapter explores the dimensions and problems of globalisation, as discussed in the scholarly literature of the last decades, to provide a general reflection on the meaning of globalisation in the field of science and technology governance and identify the challenges of transferring TA activities to the global level. Globalisation is understood as an articulation of “reflexive modernisation”, and thus features to a high extent “reflexive” problems of governance-making, such as systematic uncertainties of knowledge and cultural diversity of relevant values and norms. Great economic interdependencies as well as inequalities, together with the fact that technological and environmental risks are largely of global character and transcend the reach of national policymaking bodies, make up the challenges of globalisation. TA is presented as an instrument tailor-made for reflexive governance, and thus as a natural support for politics under the conditions of globalisation, if it manages to strengthen its global character.