Contested framings and policy controversies: Analysing biosafety policy-making in Iran

Abstract

Vigorous debates have taken place within and between many countries about regulatory policy regimes covering the assessment and approval of genetically modified (GM) crops. In Iran, a very vigorous and hotly contested policy debate concerning legislation covering GM crops occurred between 2004 and 2009, but it was confined within government circles with almost no public discussion. This paper analyses the Iranian policy-making process in the period 2006–9. It explains how and why a stalemate arose in disputes between ministries and departments. The chosen analytical framework draws mainly on the regulation of technological risks and the analysis of public policy-making. It deploys the concept of ‘framing assumptions’ as a central unit of analysis. The account locates the roots of disputes in the diverse and contested sets of framing assumptions used by the various ministries and organisations. It also explains the legislative outcome and its portrayal by reference to the political authority of science.