Technology Assessment and Democracy: Intrinsic or Contingent Relation?

Abstract

Technology assessment has been established more than 50 years ago to provide information and decision support for democratic processes and institutions and has evolved in democratic countries over the years. However, this is merely an empirical and historical observation. In a theoretical perspective on TA, the question has to be raised if there is also an intrinsic and systematic relation between TA and democracy beyond their historical and contingent connection. TA is a child of Western democracy, and it is oriented in its development towards democratic ideals, while nothing like this could have been in the early communist countries and other dictatorships. In reality, TA practice is not free from some forms of coercion, it is at the epicenter of contradictions and power struggles, is a plaything in the hands of conflicting lobbying groups, and depends on the alignment of party and political forces in parliamentary structures. Usually, arguments are tactically used by stakeholders to create an advantage and advance their own position, rather than to support the search for the best solutions. It is necessary to work on improving the empirical conditions. By dealing with the consequences of technology in an inclusive, transparent and scientifically based approach, TA creates and improves the conditions themselves. In this paper I will argued that TA is inherently related with – in particular deliberative – democracy. Arguments will be based on pragmatist approaches to science and society developed by John Dewey and Jürgen Habermas. Positioning TA in close neighborhood to democracy has consequences for the social as well as the epistemic inclusion of stakeholders, people affected, and citizens in TA processes. It also must be taken seriously in determining TA’s position in the current crises of democracy.