POLICY DESIGN FOR LEGITIMACY: EXPERT KNOWLEDGE, CITIZENS, TIME AND INCLUSION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM’S BIOTECHNOLOGY SECTOR

Abstract

More than ever, policy designers need to take legitimacy deficits seriously. To do so, they increasingly involve citizens in policy design processes and draw from a wider range of expertise. Where should they stop in terms of inclusiveness to citizens and expertise and for how long should they allow citizens and experts to be persuasive? These are the questions addressed in this article. Policy design legitimacy, the article argues, can be related to variations in designers and politicians’ inclination to resort to output‐oriented (expertise‐based) versus input‐oriented (citizen‐centred) design processes. Input‐oriented processes have a higher potential in terms of legitimacy deficit reduction than output‐oriented processes, but they take longer, notably because they require the involvement of large numbers of people. In contrast, output‐oriented processes have a slightly lower legitimacy potential, but can produce it faster. These propositions are illustrated by two policy design narratives drawn from the United Kingdom’s biotechnology sector.

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