Governance: Precautionary principle and pluralism

Abstract

Governance is referred to today in almost fetishistic terms, although the origins of what is regarded as a new notion are not always recognised. In fact the term comes from the France of the Ancien Regime, where negotiation and arbitration were commonplace in the absence of a strong state monopoly. In the more distant etymological sense, the term signified a helm. In the context of environmental challenges, governance is necessary to orchestrate cooperation between states (and their bureaucracies), sometimes also including international companies, learned societies and scientific bodies – some of which are decision-makers – NGOs and even ordinary citizens who may be involved in short-term experiments of participative and deliberative democracy.