Democratic expert influence through bioethical advisory commissions? The case of Sweden

Författare

Maria Hedlund

Redaktör

Ulf Kristoffersson
J. J. Cassiman
Jörg Schmidtke

Summary, in English

Bioethical government advisory committees have profound influence on political decision-making on gene technology issues, concerning not only patients with genetically related diseases, but also, potentially, the whole society.

• Decision-making on issues concerning all society should be democratically legitimate in all aspects, including the work of government advisory committees.

• Democratic legitimacy of expert advice is desirable not only for the democratic values per se, but also for the quality of political decisions.

• In the case of PGD legislation in Sweden, the national government advisory committee functioned as a bridge between political representatives, specialist civil servants, and scientific experts, but the connection with public opinion was more or less absent.

• Had the advisory committee worked more openly and allowed a multiplicity of perspectives being heard, the democratic and quality aspects in this legislation process would have been strengthened.

Avdelning/ar