Participation of concerned actors and the public is a central element in the legal regulation of science and technology. In constitutional democracy, these participatory forms are governed by the rule of law. The volume critically examines participatory governance in this realm and makes suggestions with respect to further institutional and political-cultural developments. It assembles contributions of a broad interdisciplinary range within a comparative research programme, opening the black box of participatory governance in legal procedure. The contributions are the result of almost a decade of fruitful discussion between he authors. They also demonstrate the potential of a cross-disciplinary approach that stretches from sociology, via political science and jurisprudence to hermeneutics, linguistics and conversation analysis.

Contributors are Gabriele Abels, Matthias Baier, Alfons Bora, Elena Collavin, Heiko Hausendorf, Zsuzsanna Iványi, András Kertész, Les Levidow, Kornélia Marinecz, Peter Münte, Patrick O’Mahony, Giuseppe Pellegrini, and Henrik Rahm.