Thomas Bernauer – författare

Agricultural (or "green") biotechnology is a source of growing tensions in the global trading system, particularly between the United States and the European Union. Genetically modified food faces an uncertain future. The technology behind it might revolutionize food production around the world. Or it might follow the example of nuclear energy, which declined from a symbol of socioeconomic progress to become one of the most unpopular and uneconomical innovations in history. This book provides novel and thought-provoking insights into the fundamental policy issues involved in agricultural biotechnology. Thomas Bernauer explains global regulatory polarization and trade conflict in this area. He then evaluates cooperative and unilateral policy tools for coping with trade tensions. Arguing that the tools used thus far have been and will continue to be ineffective, he concludes that the risk of a full-blown trade conflict is high and may lead to reduced investment and the decline of the technology. Bernauer concludes with suggestions for policy reforms to halt this trajectory--recommendations that strike a sensible balance between public-safety concerns and private economic freedom--so that food biotechnology is given a fair chance to prove its environmental, health, humanitarian, and economic benefits. This book will equip companies, farmers, regulators, NGOs, academics, students, and the interested public--including both advocates and critics of green biotechnology--with a deeper understanding of the political, economic, and societal factors shaping the future of one of the most revolutionary technologies of our times.

Diese Einführung in die Politikwissenschaft vermittelt die wichtigsten Konzepte, Methoden und Forschungsinhalte des Faches. Der erste Teil beleuchtet den wissenschaftlichen Prozess von der Theoriebildung bis zur empirischen Analyse. Anschließend vermittelt das Buch Grundlagen und Forschungserkenntnisse aus zentralen Teilbereichen und behandelt dabei Themen wie Wahlen, Medien, Interessengruppen, Parlament, Regierung und internationale Politik. Um die wissenschaftlichen Grundlagen verständlicher zu machen, wird den politischen Systemen Deutschlands, Österreichs, der Schweiz und der Europäischen Union besondere Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt.

Dank guter Lesbarkeit und zahlreichen Beispielen ist das Buch auch für Leserinnen und Leser geeignet, die keine oder nur geringe Vorkenntnisse besitzen.