Evolution of Science Diplomacy and Its Local-Global Applications

Abstract

The unambiguous reality of human civilization is that we now are globally interconnected. This fact is revealed by ‘world wars’, which happened for the first time in the history of humankind only in the last century. In context, global human population size has grown more than 1000% since the advent of the nation-state with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. During this period, the influence of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) has been expanding, certainly since the industrial revolution around 1800 when the human population reached 1 billion, accelerating to 8 billion people as we enter the next decade during our digital revolution. The challenges are on a planetary scale, as reflected further by concern about Earth’s climate, crossing the spectrum of sub-national to international jurisdictions with the nation-state at the centre. As an example, science diplomacy from the polar regions illustrates how transatlantic science relations are embedded into a global context. With hope and inspiration from the perspective of a practitioner and observer, the evolution of science diplomacy is shared herein with local-global applications as an international, interdisciplinary and inclusive (holistic) process, involving informed decision-making to balance national interests and common interests for the benefit of all on Earth across generations.