Democratizing European Science and Technology Policies? On Users, Problems and the Quest for Legitimacy

The claim, that Science and Technology Policies (S&TP) are entering a new phase (or mode) is not restricted to the field of Science Studies, it can also be found in political discourses. A prime example is the EU Framework Programme 5 and the comments around it. Similar shifts can be found in many European states, under headings like 'user orientation', 'problem orientation' or 'sustainability'. These new concepts are often linked to problems of priority setting, to problems of how to increase the effectiveness of research funding, and to questions of acceptability and acceptance of developments in science and technology. The open question is whether this development can be understood as the emergence of a new phase in S&TP that can be characterized as a democratization of science and technology. Framework Programme 5 is used to answer this question.