Kurian, Priya A.Wright, Jeanette Marie2010-10-072010-10-072010Kurian, P. & Wright, J. (2010). Science, governance, and public participation: An analysis of decision making on genetic modification in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Public Understanding of Science, published online on September 29 2010.https://hdl.handle.net/10289/4667The acceptance of public participation in science and technology governance in liberal democratic contexts is evident in the institutionalization of a variety of mechanisms for participation in recent decades. Yet questions remain about the extent to which institutions have actually transformed their policy practice to embrace democratic governance of techno-scientific decision making. A critical discourse analysis of the response to public participation by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA), the key decision-making body on genetic modification in Aotearoa/New Zealand, in a specific case demonstrates that ERMA systematically marginalized concerns raised by the public about risk management, ethics, and ecological, economic, and cultural issues in order to give primacy to a positivist, technological worldview. Such delegitimization of public perspectives pre-empts the possibility of the democratic governance of science.application/pdfenThis is an author's accepted version of an article published in the journal: Public Understanding of Science. © The Authors 2010decision making on genetic modificationgovernance of science and technologypolicy practicepublic participationJournal Article10.1177/0963662510382362