Between Localism and Globalism in Knowledge and Policy

This presentation will discuss the challenges faced by governance and policy in view of the complexity and diversity of knowledge. The discussions on this panel of genetic localism and personalized medicine, GMOs and policy, climate change and environmental governance show the ways in which knowledge needs to be local in order for it to be useable. These papers also show, however, the need for collective action and collective judgment in view of the global impact and interconnectedness of knowledge. In this paper I will discuss the implications of this tension for scientific governance and policy.