Self-Governance in Science Community-Based Strategies for Managing Dangerous Knowledge

Commercial and academic communities use private rules to regulate everything from labor conditions to biological weapons. This self-governance is vital in the twenty-first century, where private science and technology networks cross so many borders that traditional regulation and treaty solutions are often impractical. Self-Governance in Science analyzes the history of private regulation, identifies the specific market factors that make private standards stable and enforceable, explains what governments can do to encourage responsible self-regulation, and asks when private power might be legitimate. Unlike previous books which stress sociology or political science perspectives, Maurer emphasizes the economic roots of private power to deliver a coherent and comprehensive account of recent scholarship. Individual chapters present a detailed history of past self-government initiatives, describe the economics and politics of private power, and extract detailed lessons for law, legitimacy theory, and public policy.

Introduction; Part I. The First Hundred Years: 1. Prelude: self-governance to 1980; Part II. Commercial Science: 2. Legacy: the new self-governance; 3. Commercial self-governance (I): private power; 4. Commercial self-governance (II): private politics; Part III. Academic Science: 5. Legacy: academic self-governance in modern times; 6. Academic self-governance: power and politics; Part IV. Legitimacy, Law and Policy: 7. Legitimacy; 8. Law; 9. Policy and practice; 10. Extending the model; Conclusion.

Stephen M. Maurer has taught and conducted research at the University of California Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy since 1999. Trained as a lawyer, he has published more than forty articles in leading journals on topics ranging from innovation economics to national security. He also has extensive practical experience helping academic and commercial scientists organize community-wide initiatives. Maurer is the editor and lead author for two previous books, WMD Terrorism: Science and Policy Choices (2007) and On the Shoulders of Giants: Colleagues Remember Suzanne Scotchmer's Contributions to Economics (Cambridge, 2017).