Conforming to global policy trends: legitimating narratives in the case of ethical policy advice

Abstract

The global proliferation of national bioethics committees has been explained by arguing that they are legitimation devices used to reconcile ethical contradictions brought about by the development of biotechnology. However, such functional explanations do not suit all cases, like that of Finland, where the founding of a national bioethics committee was not preceded by remarkable conflicts or public controversies around biotechnology. The case can better be interpreted in light of world polity theory, according to which nation-states enact global models spreading like fashion throughout the world. We argue that the actual justifications evinced when a transnational model is enacted must be examined to render comprehensible the growing isomorphism of nation-states. Our analysis of policy narratives used to legitimate reform in the case of Finland shows that actually the functionalist imagery of ‘modernizing’ society is used as an essential part of global governance in the nation-state context.

Keywords:

• national bioethics committees
• domestication of transnational models
• isomorphism
• legitimating narratives
• modernization
• Finland

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the participants of the Governance of Global Change research seminar for their constructive comments. This study is made as a part of the research project ‘The Moderns: A Study on the Governmentality of World Society’, funded by the Academy of Finland.

Notes

1. All data excerpts are translated from Finnish by the authors.

2. A cross-national comparative study done along similar lines than the analysis presented in this article could be useful to show how similar narratives have worked in other countries, including those where substantial public controversies around biotechnology have preceded the founding of NBCs.