Science and Democracy

The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, in cooperation with the National Research Council, organized a workshop on May 4-5 in Prague on "Science and Democracy." The purpose of this meeting was (1) to identify themes, theories, and case studies for future research on this topic, and (2) to consider practical ways in which the scientific community can strengthen democracy in the region. Blanka Rihova (Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) and John Polanyi (University of Toronto) served as co-chairs.

The meeting was organized to bring together three important lines of questions. First, while many scholars have examined the role of civil society in sustaining democracy, few have addressed either the role of scientists and scientific institutions in the evolution of civil society or whether some types of non-governmental organizations (including academies of sciences), institutions, and professional societies are more effective in promoting civic engagement and democratic governance than others. Second, there is a general sense within the international science and technology community that the values of science--honesty, objectivity, and a respect for the intrinsic merit of a wide range of ideas and opinions--are essential to a democratic culture and thereby can help support democratization around the world. However, there has been little effort to assess under what circumstances individual scientists as well as academies of sciences and other scientific organizations help catalyze and sustain democratization. Third, while the process of democratization and economic reform clearly have had wide-ranging impacts on science in these countries, their impact on the scientific community’s ability to contribute to governance are less well known.

This two-day conference began with a talk on the "ethos of science" and the role of science in democratic governance by John Polanyi. This was followed by talks on different methodological approaches to examining issues of science and democracy. These talks included an historical perspective on science under communism by David Holloway (Stanford University), the role of transnational scientific cooperation by Matthew Evangelista (Cornell University), the importance of informal networks by Janine Wedel (George Washington University), and typologies to systemize the relationship between science and democracy by Josef Vyrost (Slovak Institute of Social Sciences, Kosice). Five Central European scholars (from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania) discussed the place of science in their countries before and after the transitions. Two of these talks were given by former academy of sciences presidents Virgil Constantinescu of Romania and Blagovest Sendov of Bulgaria. Also during the course of the meeting there were several presentations on the challenges faced by the scientific community in a democratizing country, including forging new international relations, shaping the portrayal of science in the media, and reorienting scientific research to new priorities.

A summary report of the workshop is available. If you are interested in receiving more information regarding this report, please contact Stephen Deets.

List of Participants