Regulating Nanotechnologies: Risk, Uncertainty and the Global Governance Gap

Robert Falkner and Nico Jaspers
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Robert Falkner: Robert Falkner is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds Masters-level degrees in politics and economics from Munich University and a DPhil in international relations from Oxford University. He has published widely on global environmental politics and risk regulation, including Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics (2008). In 2008–09, he coordinated a transatlantic research team that investigated emerging nanotechnology regulation in Europe and the US, which led to the publication of the Chatham House report Securing the Promise of Nanotechnologies: Towards Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation (2009).
Nico Jaspers: Nico Jaspers is a post-doctoral researcher at the Free University of Berlin. He studied economics at Columbia University, New York, international political economy at Sciences Po, Paris (Institut d'Etudes Politiques) and received a doctorate in international relations from the London School of Economics in 2011. He has published widely on nanotechnology policy and in 2009 coauthored an EU commissioned report on transatlantic cooperation in nanotechnology regulation.

Global Environmental Politics, 2012, vol. 12, issue 1, 30-55

Abstract: Nanosciences and nanotechnologies are set to transform the global industrial landscape, but the debate on how to regulate environmental, health and safety risks is lagging behind technological innovation. Current regulatory efforts are primarily focused on the national and regional level, while the international dimensions of nanotechnology governance are still poorly understood and rarely feature on the international agenda. However, with the ongoing globalization of nanosciences and the rapid expansion of international trade in nanomaterials, demand for international coordination and harmonization of regulatory approaches is set to increase. Yet, uncertainty about nanotechnology risk poses a profound dilemma for regulators and policy-makers. Uncertainty both creates demand for and stands in the way of greater international cooperation and harmonization of regulatory approaches. This article reviews the emerging debate on nanotechnology risk and regulatory approaches, investigates the current state of international cooperation and outlines the critical contribution that a global governance approach can make to the safe development of nanotechnologies. © 2012 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Date: 2012
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