Governing new technology: a comparative analysis of government support for nanotechnology in the Netherlands and the United States.

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20003096
Title:
Governing new technology : a comparative analysis of government support for nanotechnology in the Netherlands and the United States
Creator:
Eijmberts, Johannes (Author)
Contributor:
Bosso, Christopher J. (Christopher John) (Advisor)
Hardy, Kirsten Rodine (Committee member)
Kay, William D. (Committee member)
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2013
Date Accepted:
April 2013
Date Awarded:
May 2013
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Dissertations
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
This study examines this variance in national government support for nanotechnology-its shape, size, and policy priorities-by comparing the United States and the Netherlands. Our operating hypothesis is that national government support for nanotechnology development is driven not by the intrinsic nature of the technology but by longstanding structural and institutional arrangements. That is, in the U.S., pluralist political traditions and reliance on classical liberal market economics would suggest a detached national government approach, leaving any initiative to market actors. At the same time, legacies of corporatism in the Dutch political system and a tradition of greater direct government involvement in the national economy would suggest a government-led policy on nanotechnology development.

The findings show otherwise. Early on, the U.S. government established the National Nanotechnology Initiative, an overarching federal mechanism to promote and coordinate nanotechnology development. Yet, despite its appearance of central direction and coordination, the NNI reflected pluralist arrangements by leaving ample autonomy for participating federal departments and agencies. The creation of the NNI was driven particularly by concerns of about foreign challenges to American global leadership in science and technology.

In the Netherlands, by contrast, the path taken shows the legacy of Dutch corporatist practice-slow, incremental, and embedded in pre-existing institutional arrangements. The Dutch government initially took no directive role, relying instead on established links among universities, public research funding organizations, and industries to advance nanotechnology development in the Netherlands. However, over time, Dutch government involvement in nanotechnology grew to be more supportive, sizeable, comprehensive, and directive-particulary by requiring substantial investments in risk-related research as a condition for public funding and, notably, by stated preference to embed Dutch efforts within in broader European policy frameworks.

The findings broaden our insights into factors shaping government support for promising fields of science and technology, opportunities for multi-level governance of their effects, and the extent to which convergence in national approaches is a realistic possibility. Given the greater complexity of emerging fields of science and technology, how governments organize themselves to promote research and development-while also protecting public health and the environment-is an increasingly important question.
Subjects and keywords:
Comparative
European
Multi-level
Nanotechnology
Netherlands
Policy
Comparative Politics
Political Science
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/d20003096
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20003096
Use and reproduction:
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