Problems of political representation in the field of Biopolitics: Parliamentary decision and popular preferences on Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis

2011年，德国议会决定给予面临高遗传风险的夫妇豁免对胚胎植入前遗传学诊断（PGD）的全面禁令。但即使是这些新规定，与许多其他欧洲国家的PGD监管相比，也是非常严格的。与此同时，有一些零散的证据表明，普通公众比立法者更倾向于自由主义。这种假定的代表性差距是显著的，因为PGD已经具有巨大的医疗和商业潜力，正在进一步迅速增长，而法规似乎无法跟上这一领域的快速创新步伐。该项目的目的是通过调查一般人口对PGD和有关生物伦理问题的偏好来评估代表性差距的大小和实质性相关性。一方面，假定的差距可能仅仅是缺乏代表公民的信息和审议的结果。另一方面，普通公民可能持有不同的观点、信仰和偏好，这导致对监管的要求比议会辩论的选择更自由。为了检验这些假设，调查将实施一项实验设计：a)将在随机选择的受访者分组中调查对进一步自由化的支持；b)两个分组将面对在议会辩论期间提出的论点样本，看看他们是否能被说服支持当前的立法。因此，就有可能评估公民与其代表之间的任何规范差异究竟有多大问题。

In 2011, the German parliament decided to grant couples facing high genetic risks an exemption from the blanket ban on Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). But even these new rules are very restrictive compared to the regulation of PGD in many other European countries. At the same time, there is some scattered evidence that the general public holds much more liberal preferences than lawmakers. This presumptive representation gap is significant, because the already large medical and commercial potential of PGD is rapidly growing further, while regulations seems unable to keep up with the fast pace of innovation in this field. The aim of this project is to assess the size and substantive relevance of the representation gap by surveying the general population on their preferences on PGD and related bioethical issues. On the one hand, the presumptive gap could simply be the consequence of a lack of information and deliberation on behalf of the citizenry. On the other hand, it is possible that ordinary citizens hold different opinions, beliefs, and preferences, which result in a demand for regulation that is more liberal than the options debated in parliament. To test these hypotheses, the survey will implement an experimental design:a) Support for further liberalisation will be probed in a randomly selected subgroup of respondents b) Both subgroups will then be confronted with a sample of the arguments that were raised during the parliamentary debates to see if they can be convinced to support the current legislation.Thus, it will be possible to assess how problematic any normative discrepancies between citizens and their representatives really are.