Path dependence and value-driven issues: The comparative politics of stem cell research

World Politics

Volumn 57, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 200-230

  Banchoff, Thomas ^a  

^a GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BIOTECHNOLOGY; GENETIC ENGINEERING; INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON;

CENTRAL EUROPE; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; EUROPE; GERMANY; UNITED KINGDOM; WESTERN EUROPE; WORLD;

EID: 24944572129     PISSN: 00438871     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/wp.2005.0014     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. See, for example, J. Nicholas Ziegler, Governing Ideas: Strategies for Innovation in France and Germany (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1997);
2. and Wayne Sandholtz, High-Tech Europe: The Politics of International Cooperation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).
3. Examples include Peter M. Haas, "Introduction: Epistemic Communities and International Policy Coordination," International Organization 46 (Winter 1992);
4. and Robert Gilpin and Christopher Wright, eds., Scientists and National Policy-Making (New York: Columbia University Press, 1964).
5. A notable exception is Etel Solingen, ed., Scientists and the State: Domestic Structures and the International Context (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994).
6. The public policy literature addresses the politics of science, but mainly in the U.S. context. See, for example, David Dickson, The New Politics of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
7. The science studies literature is both comparative and interdisciplinary but rarely addresses state-level governance and, in its post-modern variants, favors interpretive over explanatory analysis. For an overview, see Sheila Jasanoff et al., eds., Handbook of Science and Technology Studies (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 1995).
8. Embryonic stem cell research - referred to throughout as "stem cell research" - is distinct from work with adult stem cells. "Cloning research" denotes work with cell nuclear transfer to increase biomedical knowledge directed toward future therapeutic applications. Also known as "therapeutic cloning," it contrasts with reproductive cloning directed toward the birth of a child.
9. See, for example, Christopher Z. Mooney, ed., The Public Clash of Private Values: The Politics of Morality Policy (New York: Chatham House, 2001);
10. Raymond Tatalovich and Byron W. Daynes, eds., Moral Controversies in American Politics: Cases in Social Regulatory Policy (Armonk, N.Y.: Sharpe, 1998);
11. and certain of the cases discussed in Doug McAdam, Sidney G. Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
12. On historical institutionalism, see Paul Pierson and Theda Skocpol, "Historical Institutionalism in Contemporary Political Science," in Helen V. Milner and Ira Katznelson, eds., Political Science: The State of the Discipline (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002);
13. Kathleen Thelen, "Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Politics," Annual Review of Political Science 2 (June 1999);
14. Sven Steinmo, Kathleen Thelen, and Frank Longstreth, eds., Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992);
15. and James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer, eds., Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
16. Susan Wright, Molecular Politics: Developing American and British Regulatory Policy for Genetic Engineering, 1972-1982 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994);
17. Robert Cook-Deegan, The Gene Wars: Science, Politics, and the Human Genome (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994);
18. Michael Mulkay, The Embryo Research Debate: Science and the Politics of Reproduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
19. Suzanne Holland, Karen Lebacqz, and Laurie Zoloth, eds., The Human Embryonic Stem Cell Debate: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001);
20. Paul Lauritzen, ed., Cloning and the Future of Human Embryo Research (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001);
21. Barbara MacKinnon, Human Cloning: Science, Ethics, and Public Policy (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000).
22. On the politics of the U.S. case, see Andrea L. Bonnicksen, Crafting a Cloning Policy: From Dolly to Stem Cells (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002).
23. National Science Board, Science and Engineering Indicators 2002 (Arlington, Va.: National Science Foundation, 2002), chaps. 4, 6.
24. In various national polls, questions that emphasize the destruction of embryos tend to elicit majority opposition to stem cell research, while questions that emphasize medical therapies tend to generate majority support. See, for example, Medicine Society Programme, Public Perspectives on Human Cloning (London: Wellcome Trust, 1998);
25. and Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, "Public Makes Distinctions on Genetic Research," Press release, April 9, 2002.
26. In one of the few comparative surveys, conducted for the French Ministry of Education, considerable majorities in the U.S., France, Germany, and the U.K. expressed the concern that science might transform nature too much, while equally solid majorities thought it permissible to clone human cells to create organs for transplantation. See "Les attitudes de l'opinion publique en France, Allemagne, Grande-Bretagne et aux Etats-Unis à l'égard de la science," Poll conducted November 29, 2000-January 6, 2001 (Paris: TNS-Sofres, 2001).
27. For an overview of the U.S. polling data that notes sensitivity to question wording, see Matthew Nisbet, "The Polls: Public Opinion about Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning," Public Opinion Quarterly 68 (Spring 2004).
28. Peter A. Hall and Rosemary C. R. Taylor, "Political Science and the Three New Institutionalisms," Political Studies 44 (December 1996).
29. Ikenberry, "Conclusions: An Institutional Approach to American Foreign Economic Policy," in G. John Ikenberry, David A. Lake, and Michael Mastanduno, eds., The State and American Foreign Economic Policy (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1988), 228;
30. Rothstein, Just Institutions Matter: The Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 139;
31. Mahoney, "Path Dependence in Historical Sociology," Theory and Society 29 (August 2000), 523.
32. Paul Pierson, Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher and the Politics of Retrenchment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994);
33. Theda Skocpol, Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992);
34. Margaret Weir, Politics and Jobs: The Boundaries of Employment Policy in the United States (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992);
35. Ruth Berins Collier and David Collier, Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement, and Regime Dynamics in Latin America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991);
36. Grzegorz Ekiert, The State against Society: Political Crises and Their Aftermath in East Central Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
37. For an overview, see Paul Pierson, "Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics," American Political Science Review 94 (June 2000).
38. Important works in economics and sociology include Douglass C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990);
39. and James Mahoney, The Legacies of Liberalism: Path Dependence and Political Regimes in Central America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001).
40. For the argument that successful reaction against the institutional status quo exemplifies a kind of path dependence in its own right, see Mahoney (fn. 14).
41. Department of Health, Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility (London: Department of Health, June 2000), 45-46.
42. Government Response to the Recommendations Made in the Chief Medical Officer's Expert Group Report, "Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility" (London: Stationery Office, 2000).
43. The critical parliamentary debates took place in November and December 2000. See Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 356, November 17, 2000, cols. 1175-1230; vol. 359, December 15, 2000, cols. 877-939; vol. 360, December 19, 2000, cols. 211-61 (London: Stationery Office, 2000).
44. Select Committee on Stem Cell Research, Stem Cell Research: Report from the Select Committee (London: Stationery Office, 2002), chap. 5.
45. Human Rights Act, 1998 (London: Stationery Office, 1998).
46. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, 1990 (London: Stationery Office, 1990).
47. Government Response (fn. 17), 7.
48. Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Human Fertilisation and Embryology (London: Stationery Office, 1984).
49. Mulkay (fn. 7).
50. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, "HFEA/HGAC Welcome Government Response to Human Cloning Report," Press release, May 24, 1999.
51. See also the report of an influential ethics committee cofunded by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, "Stem Cell Therapy: The Ethical Issues" (London, April 2000).
52. The Royal Society, "Stem Cell Research and Therapeutic Cloning: An Update," Press release, November 2000;
53. Genetic Interest Group, "Supporting Research, Helping Patients," Press release, July 2000;
54. Bioindustry Association, "BIA Welcomes Donaldson Recommendations on Cell Nuclear Replacement," Press release, August 30, 2000.
55. See, for example, Board for Social Responsiblity of the Church of England, "Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Stem Cell Research" (London, June 13, 2001).
56. Thomas Winning, archbishop of Glasgow and chairman of the bioethics committee of the Catholic Bishops of Great Britain and Ireland, criticized the Donaldson Report in The Times, August 17, 2000.
57. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 356, November 17, 2000, col. 1179; vol. 359, December 15, 200, col. 881.
58. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 359, December 15, 2000, col. 886.
59. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol 356, November 17, 2000, cols. 1175 and 1197; vol. 360, December 19, 2000, col. 213.
60. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 359, December 15, 2000, 905; vol. 356, November 17, 2000, col. 1184.
61. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 360, December 19, 2000, col. 227.
62. Hansard Parliamentary Debates, 6th ser., vol. 356, November 17, 2000, col. 1203; vol. 360, December 19, 2000, cols. 216-17.
63. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, "Empfehlungen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft zur Forschung mit menschlichen Stammzellen," Press release, May 3, 2001.
64. Deutscher Bundestag, Zweiter Zwischenbericht der Enquete-Kommission Recht und Ethik der modernen Medizin. Teilbericht Stammzellforschung" 14/7546 (Berlin: Bundestag, 2001);
65. German National Ethics Council, "Opinion on the Import of Human Embryonic Stem Cells" (Berlin, December 20, 2001).
66. Two Bundestag debates were most crucial, May 31, 2001, and January 30, 2002. See Verhandlungen des deutschen Bundestags. Stenographischer Bericht, ser. 14, 16885-16935 and 21193-21237.
67. "Gesetz zum Schutz von Embryonen vom 13. Dezember 1990," Bundesgesetzblatt (1990), 2746-48.
68. Report: Working Group on In Vitro Fertilisation, Genom Analysis, and Gene Therapy (Bonn: Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Ministry for Research and Technology, 1985).
69. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, "Zusammenfassung der Reden bei der Jahresversammlung," Press release, July 5, 2001.
70. Hubert Markl, "Freiheit, Verantwortung, Menschenwürde: Warum Lebenswissenschaften mehr sind as Biologie," in Jahrbuch der Max-Planck Gesellschaft (Munich: MPG, 2001).
71. Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie, "Embryonenforschung erst nach Experimenten an Säugetieren und adulten Stammzellen," Press release, January 24, 2002;
72. Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller, "Forschung mit humanen Stammzellen," Press release, April 30, 2001;
73. 104th German Medical Congress, "Forschung mit humanen embryonalen Stammzellen," Deutsches Ärtzteblatt 22 (June 2001);
74. "Zur Bedeutung der Stammzellen-Forschung für die Therapie der Multiplen Sklerose: Stellungnahme des Ärztlichen Beirates der DMSG Bundesverband e.V.," AKTIV 3 (2001).
75. Jutta Limbach, "Medizin und Gewissen," Die Zeit, May 24, 2001;
76. Wolfram Höfling, "Verfassungsrechtliche Aspekte der Verfügung über menschliche Embryonen und 'humanbiologisches Material,'" Expert opinion, Investigative Commission of the Bundestag, Recht and Ethik der modernen Medizin," May 2001.
77. Deutsche Bischofskonferenz, "Erklärung des Ständigen Rates der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz zum Import von embryonalen Stammzellen," Press release, January 21, 2002.
78. See also Evangelische Kirche Deutschlands, "Kirchen Schreiben an Bundestagsabgeordnete," Press release, January 17, 2002.
79. Address of May 18, 2001, reprinted in Johannes Rau, Wird alles Gut? Für einen Fortschritt nach menschlichem Maß (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 2001).
80. Verhandlungen des deutschen Bundestages, May 31, 2001, 16901, 16917, January 30, 2002, 21197.
81. "Antrag der Abgeordneten Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, Dr. Hermann Kues, Monika Knoche et al.," Deutscher Bundestag 14/8101 (January 29, 2002), 4;
82. Verhandlungen des deutschen Bundestages, January 30, 2002, 21207, 21217.
83. Verhandlungen des deutschen Bundestages, May 31, 2001, 16893;
84. Süddeutsche Zeitung, "Klonen ohne Grenzen," December 21, 2000;
85. "Die Notwendigkeit der Abwägung stellt sich immer wieder neu," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 3, 2001;
86. "Antrag der Abgeordneten Ulrike Flach, Katherina Reiche, Peter Hintze et al.," Deutscher Bundestag 14/8103, January 29, 2002, 3.
87. Verhandlungen des deutschen Bundestages, January 30, 2002, 21196, 21200;
88. "Antrag der Abgeordneten Dr. Maria Böhmer, Margot von Renesse, Andrea Fischer et al," Deutscher Bundestag, January 29, 2002, Drucksache 14/8102, 3.
89. The classic statement of the liberal approach to the governance of science is Michael Polanyi, "The Republic of Science: Its Political and Economic Theory," Minerva 1 (1962).