Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation, Mines ParisTech, 60 Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75272 Paris Cedex 06, France.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2011 Dec;17(4):649-66. doi: 10.1007/s11948-011-9303-1. Epub 2011 Aug 19.
Technologies of democracy are instruments based on material apparatus, social practices and expert knowledge that organize the participation of various publics in the definition and treatment of public problems. Using three examples related to the engagement of publics in nanotechnology in France (a citizen conference, a series of public meetings, and an industrial design process), the paper argues that Science and Technology Studies provide useful tools and methods for the analysis of technologies of democracy. Operations of experiments and public demonstrations can be described, as well as controversies about technologies of democracy giving rise to counter-experiments and counter-demonstrations. The political value of the analysis of public engagement lies in the description of processes of stabilization of democratic orders and in the display of potential alternative political arrangements.
民主技术是基于物质设备、社会实践和专业知识的工具，用于组织各种公众参与公共问题的定义和处理。本文通过三个与法国公众参与纳米技术相关的例子（公民会议、一系列公众会议和工业设计过程），认为科学技术研究为民主技术的分析提供了有用的工具和方法。可以描述实验和公众演示的操作，以及引发反实验和反演示的民主技术争议。公众参与分析的政治价值在于描述民主秩序的稳定过程，并展示潜在的替代政治安排。
