Advocacy Coalitions, Policy-Oriented Learning and Long-Term Change in Genetic Engineering Policy: An Interpretist View‪.‬

1. Introduction (1) In 1973, Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer introduced a technique to transfer genes from one organism to another artificially. Scientists, industry, farmers, medicine, and several social movements have associated different kinds of hopes and risks with the use of gene technology. Eventually, it became a permanent controversial political issue (cf. Hindmarsh/Gottweis 2005: 299). The controversy led to a regulatory framework that differs between OECD countries although there was an international scientific debate to connect the national discourses (cf. Gottweis 1998). Even though the European Union gained a lot of legal competencies, national actors and the Member States still dominate the political debates. Within the multi level governance system most decisions are developed bottom up, and the implementation of European directives differs between the Member States (cf. Dolata 2003: 279). In Germany, the debate became more controversial than in other countries and led to strikter regulations (cf. Aretz 1999). In the meantime there were several changes of the original regulatory framework. So, we now have the opportunity to observe policy change over more than three decades.