Search results

Purpose – This chapter discusses the increased acceptance of biopolitical research by mainstream political science and examines the potential causes. It demonstrates that the changing status of biopolitics is part of a more general pattern in academia, where biological explanations of social phenomena are increasingly viewed as acceptable and even necessary.

Design/methodology/approach – A brief review of the history of the literature of biopolitics with a content analysis of the three leading general-readership journals of political science and other measures of activity in biopolitics.

Findings – Political scientists until recently have not been receptive to the arguments advanced by proponents of biopolitics, but this resistance is weakening. This case for a more biologically oriented political science is more tenable now in part because of the groundwork done by the early generation of biopolitics scholars but mainly because of changing circumstances.

Purpose – This chapter provides an overview of the policy implications of neuroscience and argues that research initiatives, individual use, and aggregate social consequences of unfolding knowledge about the brain and the accompanying applications require particularly close scrutiny because of the centrality of the brain to human behavior and thoughts.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter summarizes the technological context of interventions in the brain and discusses their policy implications. It then examines research findings, principally from neuroimaging studies, that relate to decision making and emotions and looks at their potential impact on frameworks of political decision making.

Findings – Research on brain structure and functioning raises difficult policy issues and necessitates a reevaluation of our assumptions concerning the policy process, itself.

Practical implications – Given the inevitability of expanded strategies for exploration and therapy of the brain and the concerns they raise, it is important that these issues surrounding their application be clarified and debated before such techniques fall into routine use.

Originality/value – The chapter provides original analysis of the policy ramifications of interventions in the brain and neuroscience in general and makes some observations about the brain and society.

As one of the most dynamic and consequential areas of biomedical research, neuroscience must be analyzed in a broader political context. Research initiatives, individual use, and aggregate social consequences of unfolding knowledge about the brain and the accompanying applications require particularly close scrutiny because of the centrality of the brain itself to human behavior and thoughts. As one of the last frontiers of medicine, neuroscience has strong support because it promises to benefit many patients suffering from an array of behavioral, neurological, and mental disorders and injuries. Given the inevitability of expanded strategies for exploration and therapy of the brain, it is important that the political issues surrounding their application be clarified and debated before such techniques fall into routine use.