Externalities and uncertainty play an important role in the design of regulatory policies. Regulatory tools must be selected while taking into consideration the side-effects that regulated products or services have on other individuals and on the environment. This study investigates the externalities and uncertainty that arise from the use of genome editing (with specific reference to CRISPR technique) and how they relate to regulatory policy design choices. Building on evidence from genome editing regulation and on the NATO (Nodality, Authority, Treasure and Organization) policy tools framework, this study argues that a mix of regulatory tools is required to tackle externalities of genome editing applications and to cope with sources of uncertainty about their beneficial, neutral and harmful side-effects. The study provides some recommendations to policy-makers about reducing uncertainty, diversifying regulatory tools over time, and communicating to the public about features of genetically edited products.

EDITORIAL article Front. Polit. Sci., 20 September 2022Sec. Politics of Technology Volume 4 - 2022 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2022.1027410

IMPACTThe design of public financial management (PFM) systems requires the exploration of the problem space before solution options are generated. Case studies are often employed to teach the design of PFM systems, but conventional forms of delivery of case study materials fail to help develop the skills needed to explore the problem space. This article investigates the use of chatbot-assisted case studies as a way to stimulate students’ efforts to pose questions about features of the problem scenario.

This study aims to improve theoretical accounts of regulatory responses to emerging technologies by proposing a model of regulatory development, which incorporates a role for types of uncertainty and for existing regulatory institutions. Differently from existing theories of regulatory development, the model proposed here posits a sequence of cyclical activities where regulatory responses arise in incremental fashion out of efforts to make sense of emerging technologies and to ponder the applicability of existing regulatory tools. The model is discussed on the basis of the comparison between regulatory responses to the emergence of CRISPR gene editing in the US and the EU in the period 2012-2019. The comparison between the two cases suggests how regulatory responses to emerging technologies are affected by expectations of future technological and regulatory developments and by existing regulatory institutions.

Background: The rise of CRISPR not only opens up multiple opportunities for genetic editing but also results in potentially threatening or controversial applications. Objectives: This study aims to investigate how CRISPR affects the identity and role of individuals within society and reshapes social, political, and economic regimes. Method: We carried out a bibliometric analysis of articles on CRISPR published in academic journals in the period 2012-2020 in order to identify the main research themes on genome editing that have been addressed in social sciences and humanities so far. Results: Results suggest that CRISPR studies have primarily focused on normative and ethical issues, together with more specific attention toward issues of public perception, trust toward science, regulation and governance of critical applications, and, especially, around the manipulation of the genome of human embryos. Results also suggest that issues of commercial, cultural, and geopolitical sorts have been left relatively unattended so far, instead. Conclusions: Attention to the implications of CRIRPS on commercial, cultural, and geopolitical issues should inform the future social sciences and humanities research agenda on genome editing.

Reforms of public services have been extensively researched in representative democracies, where they have been especially explained by ideological change, political turnover, financial crises and pressures from international organizations. Meanwhile, less attention has been paid to explaining them in countries whose institutions have been characterized as neo-patrimonial systems. This study aims to explain the commercialization of healthcare and education services that took place in Saudi Arabia since the 2000s. The analysis provides some ways to refine and expand existing theoretical accounts of public services reforms in regimes that differ from representative democracies.

This chapter aims to discuss the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)—especially of the so-called Big Data—in the innovation of public service delivery. After reviewing the relevant literature on innovation and innovation diffusion in the public sector and the rise of Big Data, the chapter presents a narrative of the case of the adoption and implementation of predictive policing in Kent County Police, UK, as an instance of (early) application of Big Data in public sector organizations. On the whole, the analysis of the case suggests that past conditions and adoption strategies play an important role in the introduction and acceptance of innovative work practices that exploit the potential of contemporary ICTs.

This book offers theoretical and methodological guidelines for researching the complex regulation of local infrastructure, utilities and public services in the context of rapid urbanisation, technological change, and climate change. It examines the interactions between regulators, public officers, infrastructure and utilities firms, public service providers, citizens, and civil society organisations. It contains contributions from academics and practitioners from various disciplinary perspectives and from many regions of the world, illustrated with case studies from several sectors including water, natural gas and electricity distribution, local public transport, district heating, urban waste, and environmental services.