Switzerland is an excellent case for studying public debates about new technology. The Swiss political institutions of direct democracy enable citizens to set substantive issues regarding new technologies on the public agenda and to subject them to a popular vote (Frey & Bohnet 1993). Given modern society's great functional differentiation and distinct relative autonomy of its various subsystems (see Touraine, Chapter 2), the institutions of the initiative and the referendum provide a means for securing citizens' direct access to the political arena and for voicing their concerns about social, political, cultural and technological developments. The public discourse engendered by initiatives and referenda not only raises citizens' consciousness about the issues in question, but also assumes a monitoring function regarding the relatively autonomous activities pursued in society's various subsystems (see Bauer, Chapter 19). In this respect, initiatives and referenda concerning scientific and technological issues may be regarded as highly constructive forms of public resistance to scientific and technological developments because they stimulate debates in the public arena about the issues in question, enable citizens to state their preferences, and thus bind scientific–technological activity into democratic procedures. The concerns raised by public debates about scientific–technological developments may be interpreted as signals to the respective institutions to reconsider and re-evaluate their activities. These particular forms of public resistance to new technologies may result in significant adaptations of scientific–technological endeavours to address public concerns.