It is perhaps unsurprising that pro-euro groups want to focus on the economic benefits of joining. But the finding that the leading anti-euro groups want to play a similar game is unexpected since it certainly does not represent the views of all those opposed to joining the single currency. The reason is that winning a referendum means winning votes and the anti-euro groups know that appearing to be anti-European will cloud the issue and – as the Conservatives found at the last General Election – does not play well with voters.
Nowhere is this desire to take Europe out of the euro debate clearer than in the slogan of the leading anti-euro group, the No organisation – 'Europe Yes, Euro No'.
So both pro- and anti-euro groups seem set to campaign on the relatively narrow range of issues linked to the economic consequences of the euro. Issues to do with sovereignty, national identity and the role of the UK on the international stage will only be raised by dissident anti-euro groups breaking from the official campaign line. In other words, if politics is mentioned, then this will be despite the referendum and not because of it.
If this is indeed how the campaign develops, then whatever the outcome, the process will raise important questions that go beyond the single currency to embrace the troubled relationship between science and society. At its most basic, the referendum means empowering ordinary people to make a choice between two competing sets of claims about the UK economy and its prospects. In this, it is similar to choices that arise in other areas.
In the case of MMR, most medical experts say it is safe but others say it is not, leaving citizens to choose which side to trust. The same was true for BSE, GMOs and nuclear power, where expert advice was also contested by citizen and community groups. The rising profile of these challenges is a significant trend in modern society and one that clearly has the potential to widen engagement with science by forcing scientists and other experts to defend their assumptions and claims from a wider range of questions.
The problem, however, is how to orchestrate these processes so that a full debate takes place in a reasonable time frame and a legitimate decision is produced. Public inquiries take too long, but select committees may be seen as too exclusive. Referenda offer another alternative means of increasing participation and the referendum on the euro thus provides a contemporary example of a democratic decision about a major policy issue in which political and technical knowledge are contested.
Examining its conduct provides lessons for other means of increasing public engagement with science, technology and expertise. Preliminary indications from the euro referendum are that if the aim is to have a full and frank debate, so that each citizen can reach an informed decision, then the process will fail.
Instead, campaigning will focus on the issues that are found to be central for the key floating voters, with other issues relegated to the sidelines. If this is indeed the case, then the paradox may be that in order to promote the widest possible discussion, a more exclusive decision-making process is needed.
For further information, contact Dr. Robert Evans on 292-087-4034 or email: evansrj1@cardiff.ac.uk
Or Iain Stewart or Lesley Lilley at ESRC, on 179-341-3032/41-3119
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. The research report 'Economics and the Euro: Social Science in the Public Sphere' by Robert Evans was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Dr. Evans is at Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, Cardiff CF10 3WT.
2. The ESRC is the UK's largest funding agency for research and postgraduate training relating to social and economic issues. It has a track record of providing high-quality, relevant research to business, the public sector and Government. The ESRC invests more than £53 million every year in social science research. At any time, its range of funding schemes may be supporting 2,000 researchers within academic institutions and research policy institutes. It also funds postgraduate training within the social sciences therby nurturing the researchers of tomorrow. The ESRC website address is http://www.esrc.ac.uk
3. REGARD is the ESRC's database of research. It provides a key source of information on ESRC social science research awards and all associated publications and products. The website can be found at http://www.regard.ac.uk.