Research project S2/10/002 (Research action S2)
A study of the emergence, formulation and formal adoption of the public policies implemented by Belgium and France with regard to genetically modified organisms (GMO´s), comparing them to the public policies adopted by these two countries on medically-assisted procreation (MAP).
The primary objective of the research consists of identifying the political, administrative and social processes which govern decision-making with regard to regulation of GMO´s.
The next objective is to compare the content of the regulations in two different sectors - GMO´s and MAP - in Belgium and France.
Three general working hypotheses will be tested to identify what factor(s) predominate in the formulation of the public policies studied:
1. Hypothesis on international regulation: the role of the inter- and supranational organisations (notably of the European Union) and the existence of a globalized market lead to a convergence of policies with regard to GMO´s and MAP in Belgium and France (« globalization matter »).
2. Hypothesis on national regulation: the specific features of the political systems (e.g. Belgian consociationalism versus French parliamentarism) induce differences between Belgium and France in their respective regulation of GMO´s and MAP (« polity and politics determine policy »).
3. Hypothesis on sectorial regulation: because the sectorial action networks (« policy networks ») bring together - independent of the national borders - the same public and private actors, one observes a convergence between Belgium and France for any given sector, but differences between the GMO and MAP sectors (« policy networks matter »).
