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9.5 A Systems Comparison of Public Perception and Policy towards Genetic Engineering in the EU and the US
Author(s) -
Kraus Florian,
Negele Herbert,
Bereano Philip L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2000.tb00469.x
Subject(s) - perception , european union , work (physics) , soft systems methodology , agriculture , political science , public policy , positive economics , economic system , sociology , epistemology , economics , engineering , information system , geography , law , economic policy , philosophy , mechanical engineering , management information systems , archaeology
There has been a steadily increasing debate during the last years about how to regulate genetically modified organisms and their use in food processing and agriculture. As the discussion advanced, one could identify two fundamentally different positions, represented by the United States and the European Union. The goal of this work was to figure out possible reasons for the obvious differences in public perception and policy between the EU and the US. The approach to the problem is based on Peter Checkland's “Soft Systems Methodology”, which was adopted to the specific problem situation. It revealed a fair number of factors which are contributing to the different development of the situation in the EU and in the US. Nevertheless, the interaction of those reasons appears to be even more important than each single reason. Systemigrams, developed by Boardman, were used to further analyze and display those interactions in a transparent manner.