GOBERNABILIDAD EN LA SOCIEDAD DEL CONOCIMIENTO.

The aim of this paper is to bring forward an argument about one of the most important determining factors of governance in the present society of knowledge: citizen participation in public policies concerning science and technology. It begins by a brief outline of what "society of knowledge" is. Then it analyses the concepts of society of risk and regulatory science, as necessary for the right understanding of the character of both "society" and "knowledge" are. In line with this analysis, it is possible to identify several models of future projection for the society of knowledge with different governance conditions. On this basis I will argue that the new role of knowledge in nature transformation and social dynamics as well as the growing prominence of the civil society in public life involve of social agents in the technological-scientific change management a key condition of governance in the society of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]