Science Diplomacy: The Next Ten Years

The use of scientific expertise and knowledge to advance diplomatic goals has achieved significant recognition and a number of successes over the past decade. Yet there have also been significant reversals on what had been perceived, at least by the "science diplomacy" optimists, as progress towards addressing societal goals. The optimists have been reminded politics is a more powerful force than science, at least in the short run, and scientists are no better than anyone else in predicting the future course of human events. The diplomats and foreign policy academics are less surprised by the precariousness of predicting "which world we will be living in," which was the lead topic in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs. The journal solicited six contrasting visions of a "grand narrative for an increasingly turbulent era…Realist world, Liberal world, Tribal world, Marxist world, Tech world, and Warming world." It is unlikely that one of these visions will dominate the next decade - more likely insights from all six will influence the future. In all of them science diplomacy has a role, and perhaps an instrumental one in shaping that future by addressing societal challenges. Among the topics that will be discussed include: nuclear arms control, poverty reduction, global health, the Paris Climate agreement, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the increasing number of science advisers in foreign ministries, and the volatile relations between the liberal democracies and autocratic states.