Consensus conferences are one of several practices (including citizen juries, scenario workshops, and deliberative polls, among others) intended to enhance deliberative public involvement in shaping social decision making about science and technology. Because public issues increasingly include complex scientific and technological components, and because the general public lacks the needed scientific knowledge, the management of those issues seems inevitably to slip out of the hands of ordinary citizens. Democratic governance, however, rests on the informed consent of ordinary people, and many observers worry that in numerous areas ordinary citizens are becoming less able to shape public policies.

Basic Issues

The basic concept behind consensus conferences is that public policies about science and technology will be improved significantly if policy makers can hear informed, deliberative public perceptions, concerns, and recommendations as they consider the choices they face. Informed and thoughtful public participation may also help to blunt...