Scientific Cooperation as a Diplomatic Tool

Science magazine summarizes a recent interview with former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering.

Recalling the lessons of his nearly 40-year diplomatic career as ambassador to Russia, Israel, and four other countries, Pickering said that shared interests in science and technology can help the United States build a productive relationship with its strongest competitors and foes while dampening the possibility of more volatile confrontations.

"If you look around the world, despite what is certainly a serious decline in U.S.... popularity, the science issue has not faded from the center of foreign interest in us," said Pickering, now chairman of the international consulting firm Hills and Co.

Comment: Check out the previous posting on science and human rights which, since human rights should be a central focus of our foreign policy, suggests another diplomatic thrust.

I was for decades involved in efforts to promote peace in the Middle East by promoting scientific cooperation among scientists representing different countries in the region. That too can be a part of U.S. public diplomacy.

There are lots more ways that science and diplomacy overlap, including the role of social science in illuminating risks and opportunities for foreign policy, the role of diplomacy in making global science possible, and the role of science in changing the minds of men in ways that build the defenses of peace and the growth of economies. JAD