La consulenza scientifica parlamentare Riflessioni comparative sull’insostenibile eccezionalismo del caso italiano

Legislative scientific advice. A comparative reflection on the untenable exceptionalism of the Italian case

Abstract

In the 1980s, European countries, following the example of the United States, established a parliamentary advisory body for scientific matters. Italy followed suit only a decade later, but its experience with the Comitato per la valutazione delle scelte scientifiche e tecnologiche (Vast) ended in 2013. Despite its aim to become a point of reference for the dialogue between politics and science, Vast ultimately failed. The post- COVID era shows the opportunity to revive the debate on scientific advice to parliament in Italy, that in this article has been proposed in comparative perspective with reference to France, the United Kingdom, and Germany.