[Athena] Call for papers The Unbearable Lightness of Bio-Institutions (IPSA/Montreal 2014)

[virginie tournay <vtournay AT yahoo.fr>]

Call for papers

Panel : The Unbearable Lightness of Bio-Institutions: Dynamics and Stabilization Processes in Fragmented Societies  

http://www.ipsa.org/my-ipsa/events/montreal2014/panel/unbearable-lightness-bio-institutions-dynamics-and-stabilization-p

IPSA World Conference, Montreal, 19-24 July 2014

RC 12 Biology and Politics

Elisa Chelle (PACTE/Sciences PO Grenoble)

Virginie Tournay (CNRS-CEVIPOF/Sciences PO Paris)

Discussants: 

Severine Louvel (PACTE/Sciences PO Grenoble)

Annette Leibing (University of Montreal)

Deadline to submit abstract/paper proposals: October 7, 2013
http://www.ipsa.org/events/congress/montreal2014/submit-abstractpaper-proposal

Presentation. Over the past three decades, globalization took medical and environmental issues to another levels. Torn between local and transnational interests, their crystallization reveals heterogeneous configurations. Consolidated macro-actors (federal/state regulatory agencies, health or environmental surveys, operators of crisis management, multilateral agreements…) appear as momentary achievements, under perpetual renegotiation.

From a pragmatic standpoint, the concept of bio-institutions appears as a good social laboratory for shedding light on factors of convergence and reduction of discrepancies. By bio-institutions, we mean institutions dealing with the emergence and release of controversial biological products (stem cells, genetically modified organisms…) or in charge of biodiversity’s knowledge and management, like risk reduction.

Bewildering to the public opinion, biotechnology raises ethical issues. Life-related technologies, e.g. animal cloning, outgrow administrative regulatory procedures and thus challenge stabilization. Hence a number of possible research questions. How to turn citizens into participants of bio-institutions? What are the limits of participatory science? What controversies could arise from such institutional arrangements?

We welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions addressing, but not limited to, topics such as global health, health research and innovation, food bioindustry or biodiversity issues.