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â—Ľ summer
201810
S cience diplomacy and international
science cooperation overlap,
but do not necessarily have the
same objectives. Joint scientific
ventures like IIASA produce
important knowledge and to some extent
overlap with the world of international
diplomacy. While the goal of international
science is to produce knowledge, science
diplomacy however, is more about how
countries use science to advance their
interests—after all, diplomacy is the process
of advancing a country’s national interests
on the international stage.
These national interests can be advanced at
different levels using science. Most directly, a
country can project influence through science
or build a bridge to a country of interest. It
can for instance, use science to advance its
security or trade interests, or to gain access to
needed technologies. It can be about better
managing shared resources with another
country, for example cross-boundary water
issues. It can also be where the global interest
is at stake, such as climate change or ocean
pollution. Every country, whether developed
or developing, has relationships with other
countries, and increasingly these relationships
have technological and scientific components.
If we go beyond that and look at the global
interest, science is critical to every one of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Given the centrality of science to addressing
international challenges, it is surprising that we
do not have better mechanisms to integrate
science into international diplomacy. Very
few foreign ministries have science advisors.
The UN has no integrated system for bringing
science advice into its decisions. In general,
policy decisions are made in individual
countries, not by international organizations–
hence the need for more vertical integration
between international agencies and domestic
science advisory systems, which is perhaps
best achieved through science advisors linked
to their diplomatic service. Even today, there is
often a need for countries to be convinced that
it is in their national interest to work together
and use science for global advancement.
If we want to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals, we will have to think a
lot more about how we connect scientific
knowledge, decision making, the international
community, UN agencies, and domestic policy.
First, the United Nations and international
organizations must better integrate their
scientific advisory networks. As we think about
the goals and the knowledge gaps that need
to be filled, we also need to think about the
system of science that will support this effort.
The UN system does not currently have a
coordinated system of science. This is sorely needed, and must reach beyond the heavily
siloed system of UN agencies.
Secondly, foreign ministries need to better
integrate science into their processes. This is
already happening in a number of countries as
we are seeing through two organizations, the
International Network for Government Science
Advice and the Foreign Ministers’ Science and
Technology Advisors Network–both of which
I chair–that are working together to promote
and link the professions of science advice
and science diplomacy. The latter has grown
from four countries when it started two years
ago, to over 25 countries today. What we are
seeing is that a growing number of countries
are taking an interest in being part of a forum
where these topics can be discussed by people
who are deeply engaged in them.
Ultimately, the success of these efforts will
come from the demonstrated advantages
it provides to countries. When one country
sees other countries receiving benefits or
advantages because it is using the tools of
science diplomacy better or more effectively,
they will take note. â—Ľ
Further info In November 2017, Gluckman delivered
an IIASA 45th Anniversary Lecture on this topic. The
full text is available online:
www.iiasa.ac.at/events/Gluckman-18
Sir Peter Gluckman is the
chief science advisor to
the Prime Minister of
New Zealand, and an
IIASA Distinguished
Visiting Fellow.
Challenges
to science
diplomacy
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options
Volume summer 2018
- Title
- options
- Volume
- summer 2018
- Location
- Laxenburg
- Date
- 2018
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC 4.0
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 28
- Categories
- Zeitschriften Options Magazine