Science Diplomacy

The following sections are included:

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABOUT THE EDITORS
• ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS
• CONTENTS

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Concept of Science Diplomacy
• Globalization and the Rise of Science Diplomacy
• The Parameters of Science Diplomacy
• Exploring the Significance of Science Diplomacy
• References

In Cairo, Egypt in June 2009, US President Barack Obama delivered a pivotal speech in which he outlined a ‘new beginning’ in US engagement with the Muslim world. He announced a wide range of initiatives that included a commitment to expand science and technology engagement. President Obama specifically called for the creation of centres of excellence and for increased cooperation in health. He urged partnerships and investment to assist entrepreneurs to create new businesses and jobs. He also announced the appointment of US ‘science envoys’ to collaborate with Muslim countries on programs related to energy, agriculture, information technology and water (Obama, 2009)…

With the world's population set to exceed nine billion by 2050, securing global food security into the future is fast becoming one of the most pressing challenges on the international agenda. Crop genetic resources are increasingly understood to be integral to combating this challenge, and consequently interest in the erosion of biodiversity and the related loss of plant genetic variation has grown significantly in recent years. Given the enormous interdependence of both countries and generations on this genetic diversity, its conservation and sustainable use are of global concern and have profound implications. This chapter seeks to assess the current state of international efforts to manage plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), and to explore some of the attendant challenges through a closer look at the New Zealand experience. The protection of PGRFA is reliant on technical and scientific innovation, collaboration and expertise, and thus presents a clear opportunity to operationalise the science diplomacy framework. As a small country heavily dependent on ‘soft’ power and deeply invested in the outcome of international negotiations and efforts in this area, New Zealand has a chance to harness science diplomacy in a way that is beneficial for all — both by contributing to global efforts to manage and conserve PGRFA and by using our related scientific skills and experience to advance our diplomatic interests overseas. However, Wellington's ability to do so is inherently shaped by a range of political, economic, legal and cultural considerations. Given the vital importance of PGRFA for ensuring future food production in the face of fundamental environmental and demographic changes, understanding the potential of science diplomacy in this area — and also its limitations — is an important step forward.

The following sections are included:

• Discovery
• Science
• Diplomacy
• A Global Environment
• A Warming Globe
• Results from Scientific Drilling in Antarctica: A New Challenge for Diplomacy
• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• The Increasing Role of Diplomacy for Science
• Science Diplomacy
• SKA: An Example of Diplomacy for Science
• Australia: SKA and the Role of Diplomacy for Science
• South Africa SKA: The Growth of Diplomacy for Science
• Australia and South African Diplomacy for Science Relations
• Conclusion
• Cited References
• Additional References

In a time of multiplying international problems that require scientific input, a well-functioning science-diplomacy interface is vital for the success of global governance. The case of climate change offers valuable lessons concerning current institutional design patterns of this interface, building on more than two decades of experience with of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In this chapter I depart from the usual approach to analysing the role of science in diplomacy. Instead of assessing the functioning and processes of the IPCC, I use a cognitive perspective to analyse how diplomats' minds receive and make use of scientific knowledge. Using interview data from 2012, I argue that: (1) most negotiation participants use a very basic and limited set of insights about climate change that has not changed significantly for a long time; (2) that recent scientific concepts — most notably the idea of climatic tipping points — are not yet part of most diplomats' belief systems; and (3) that hardly any negotiator is able to imagine qualitatively different long-term futures that have been affected by climate change, and to link present decisions to those possible futures. I discuss the implications of these findings for the negotiation process and outline possible ways to improve the design of the science-diplomacy interface to address present cognitive limitations…

The following sections are included:

• A Career of Failure
• The Resource Curse
• A Tale of Two Pipelines
• Bickering at the Margins
• The Multinational Monsters Under the Bed
• Someone Else's Problem
• Fine Clothes for the Wrong Emperor
• References

The goal of this chapter is to lay out the problems and possibilities for science communication in international diplomacy. The context is Western democracy's drive for an instrument that makes science accessible for a majority of citizens. What is meant by science communication in this context varies rather widely, from science and technology promotion and marketing activities to science and technology education, and even programs to aid researchers with basic communication skills in their own and other languages. Also included in this cluster of activity are structures aimed at integrating science in the decision-making processes of contemporary democracies, better known as ‘science in society’ programs. Some of these may also take on a ‘citizen science’ flavour, whereby non-scientists are encouraged to help with data gathering or routine scientific work and thus enlarge the population of science-aware citizens (Irwin, 1995). For Western democracies the difficult question of public dissent about science and technologies has also meant that surveys of public attitudes to science have abounded and methods of producing consensus proposed. These actions are said to be guided toward improved science communication and public engagement with science…

The role and place of science and technology (S&T) in international affairs — and science diplomacy (SD) in particular — has attracted renewed interest in recent years. Given the nature of the primary threats and challenges which currently imperil life on our small planet — climate change, diminishing biodiversity, pandemic disease, resource scarcity, and environmental collapse, to name a few — this is perhaps unsurprising. And it is certainly welcome. Absent a better understanding of the S&T drivers central to each of these issues, and the development of a more effective capacity to manage S&T files, improved performance is unlikely…

This chapter will focus on the various ways in which science cooperation among nations and peoples can help improve international relations and security. In the past, certainly through much of the 20th century, modes of scientific cooperation more often than not took the form of joint governmental science projects and/or individual contacts and research work among members of the international scientific community. Through membership in international scientific associations and participation in large-scale scientific projects that were beyond the means of any one government, such as the International Space Station or CERN, the high energy physics research facility near Geneva, scientists were truly members of an international community that often transcended national borders and identity…

Diplomacy is defined as ‘the conduct of the relations of one state with another by peaceful means’ or the ‘art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way’. In both definitions, the key word is relationship with the fundamental action being to build relationships. We use different vehicles to enhance this formal relationship building. For example, sports diplomacy engages competitive sports and cultural diplomacy uses music and the arts to create nodes of interaction. Both forms of diplomacy are language independent, and derived from basic human drives: the first is to compete, and the second is to express. Sports connect people through friendly competition, and the arts link people through nonverbal communication. It is the universality of these activities that makes them so powerfully transcendent over the limitations of language and the constraints of race and ethnicity…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Biosecurity, Food Safety and Trade
• Greenhouse Gas Production and Methane
• The Role of Science in New Zealand Diplomacy
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• References

Is Japan back? Since Prime Minister Abe took office in December 2012, he has emphasized the need to rebuild Japan's diplomacy in the face of unsolved critical issues in several important areas that affect relationships with the United States, China, and South Korea, among others. Prime Minister Abe wishes to regain Japan's confidence in the world as a leading country — ‘like it used to be in the 1980s’ — through both his economic policy (‘Abenomics’) and diplomacy strengthening alliances with the countries with ‘common values’…

The following sections are included:

• The Modern Era of Science Diplomacy
• The Limitations of Science Diplomacy
• The Promise of Science Diplomacy
• The Role of Scientists, UN Reform, and the Social Media in Diplomacy
• Conclusion
• References

The following section is included:

• Index