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andInternational
Politics*
Technology
Science,
WILLIAM
COLUMBIA
T. R. Fox
UNIVERSITY
that
of the 1960'shave been discovering
As the supexpowers
makewaron normakepeace witheach other,the
theycan neither
armsracebetweenthemhas been givingwayto a space race,itself
race. The space industry
partof a largerscienceand technology
is todayone oftheworld'sgreatest,
eventhough-there
are onlytwo
of the Soviet
majorcustomers
for its product,the governments
is a
Unionand of the UnitedStates.Leadershipin thatindustry
hallmark
ofsuperpower
status,buttheentrancefeeand theannual
dues are bothso highthatthe space club will remainsmall.
The Soviet-American
sciencerace is only the most dramatic
reasonfora studentof worldpoliticsto pay close attentionto
changes,in the world's
changes,and especiallyto differential
scienceand technology.
Thereis probablyno otherresourcethat
can be made to serveso manyalternative
nationalpurposesas a
nation'sscientificand technicalmanpower.There is no better
indicatorof tomorrow's
wealth and power than today'sscience
capability.
Indeed,thisresourceis so fungibleand so preciousthat
if one wantedto plot the positionof statesof the worldin the
1980'salonga curveof economicadvancement
(and of per capita
in worldpolitics),a verygood measurewould be the
influence
* This essay was preparedfor deliveryas the KeynoteAddressat the
Eighth Annual Conventionof the InternationalStudies Association,New
York City,April 14, 1967. It is very largelya by-productof the author's
in the organizingphase of the programof ColumbiaUniversity's
participation
The supportof that
new Instituteforthe Studyof Science in Human Affairs.
Instituteis gratefully
acknowledged.
VOLUME 12, NUMBER
1,
MARCH
1968
WILLIAM
T. R. Fox
STUDIES
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unarmedEurope withoutriskingtwo-way
thenalmost-completely
which
in sciencehas a politicalsignificance
atomicwar.Beingfirst
it did nothave in earliertimes.
derivesfromthe unequalbenefits
Anotherwholeset of effects
confersonce it
permanently
a
advance
technological
which given
Comparethe
system.
political
world
into
the
assimilated
fully
is
richEngland
coal-and-iron
on
Revolution
effects
of the Industrial
in the geotheme
recurring
poor Ireland.A
and on coal-and-iron
of a transof the 1940'swas the disparateeffects
politicalwritings
with
on the greatpowersin theircompetition
revolution
portation
of overland
in the relativeefficiency
each other,the improvement
whichwas feltto have had
as againstoverseastransport
transport
Great
order.3
thewholeinternational
in reshaping
a majorinfluence
states,suchas theUnitedStatesand Russia,couldbe
continent-size
locatedGermany
Centrally
and economically.
politically
integrated
couldgainpowerin the age of t-herailroad,at the expenseof less
But it does nottake
locatedEuropeanpowercompetitors.
centrally
scienceleadershipto enjoythe naturaladvantagesin locationor
confer.Otherwise,
mayultimately
resourcewhicha newtechnology
Kuwaitwouldhardlyenjoyin 1968an averthecitizensof oil-rich
age incomeaboutequal to thatof citizensof the UnitedStates.
Theremaybe anotherset oflecturesdealingwiththeactorsin
to considerhow scienworldpolitics.Here it mightbe appropriate
changesaffectthe relativeimportanceof
tificand technological
groupsin worldpolitics.It seems
local,national,and transnational
clearthatformostof the past two centuriesthe advancingtechtechnologyof
and transportation-the
nologyof communication
themotorcar,the
themassnewspaper,
therailroad,thetelegraph,
airplane,radioand television-hasincreasedmobilityand contact
withinindividualcountriesrelativelymore than it did between
This mayno longerbe truein WesternEurope,and the
countries.
and
ofcommunication
networks
ofworld-wide
efficiency
increasing
transnational
may be creatingpoliticallyimportant
transportation
and interest
groupsof variouskinds.
communities
on ourstate
One studentoftheimpactof atomicage inventions
3 See, for example,Harold and MargaretSprout,eds., Foundationsof
Press,1945), Chapters
NationalPower (Princeton,N. J.: PrincetonUniversity
but from
selectionsnotonlyfromtheirown writings
IV, V and VI forpertinent
thoseof WilliamT. R. Fox, NicholasJ. Spykmanand RobertStrausz-Hup6
VOLUME 12, NUMBER
1, MARCH 1968
WILLIAM T. R. Fox
are causing
JohnHerz,has concludedthattheseinventions
system,
state.4This oughtto mean thatthe
the demiseof the territorial
as one of the categoriesof
will declinein importance
nation-state
or thebloc
actorsin worldpoliticsand thatonlythe superpowers
or perhaps
in the future.Unfortunately,
actorswill be important
statesdo notseemto havegotten
someoftheterritorial
fortunately,
the word.Herz wrotebeforethe balance of terrorhad begun to
appearquitestableand beforelack of disciplineand polycentrism
had becomeapparenton bothsidesof theIronCurtain.The technologicalgap betweentheUnitedStatesand itsWesternEuropean
in thepress
so muchattention
whichhas attracted
NATO partners
recentlyalso helps to explainsome of the Westernpolycentrism.
The UnitedStatesgovernment
does not appearto be greatlyconcernedabout closingthisgap, even thoughthe gap is a threatto
of
of perfornance
and thuslimitsthe efficiency
alliancesolidarity
the bloc actorin today'sbipolarcompetition.
ofnewstatesin thenon-European
worldraises
The proliferation
questionsas to how smalla statecan be and stillenjoyaccess to
and to whatextent
ofadvancedscienceand technology,
thebenefits
can
micro-sovereignties
theproblemscreatedby thenewpatternof
common
either
be overcome
bythedesireforsuchaccess.In theory,
type,or funcoftheKenya-Uganda-Tanzania
servicesarrangements
suchas theWorldHealthOrgantionalinternational
organizations
ization,open theway fora solutionto theseproblems.
As one turnsto discusstheWesternstatesystemitself,and parsystemfrom
ofourmultiplesovereignty
thetransformation
ticularly
one mayspecuto a loosebipolarsystem,
a balanceofpowersystem
and technological
changeshave
late on the role whichscientific
To do thisone mustengagein an
playedin thistransformation.
or,perhapsmoreelewhichmightbe called `hindcasting"
activity
thattherehad
us
Let
imagine
forecasting."
gantly,"retrospective
different
would the
How
no
as
world
such thing two
wars.
been
atomic
energyhave been
worldof 1967look?Wouldthesecretsof
Ocean?
of
the
Atlantic
soonerorlater,and on whichside
discovered
advancehave
and technological
Would not the pace of scientific
centurywithoutthe spurof war and
quickenedin the twentieth
4 International
Politics in the AtomicAge (New York: Columbia UniversityPress,1959).
INTERNATIONAL
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WILLIAM T. R. Fox
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12, NUMBER
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1968
WILLIAMT. R. Fox
He needsto uncommunities.6
scientific
nationaland international
contactsbetweenscienderstandtheconsequencesof international
firstsponsored
Pugwashconferences,
tistsfromvariouscountries.
Americancapitalist,
Russian-sympathizing
by the Canadian-born,
CyrusEaton,are onlythe mostdramaticexample.The studentof
data in thePugwashexperience.
mayfindinteresting
functionalism
whommeetingswiththeiropfor
scientists,
social
It is ironicthat
Ironand BambooCurtains
of
the
side
other
the
on
positenumbers
have no Pugwashconusefulexperience,
mightbe a professionally
ferencesto report.One need not,however,acceptthe explanation
once gave thatperhapssocial scienwhichJ.RobertOppenheimer
to say to each other.
tistsdo nothave anything
to deMortonGrodzinsinventedthe colorfulterm,"traitriot,"
thateach of us is. 7 He describeda group
scribethepatriot-traitor
whowereaskedhowtheywouldhandleinformation
ofpsychiatrists
on in theirdoctorwhichtheystumbled
relevanttonationalsecurity
of the HipITey reconciledthe requirements
clientrelationship.
Grodzins
of
ways.
in
a
variety
citizenship
oath
of
loyal
and
pocratic
scienthe
guilt-ridden
about
been
talking
have
mightequallywell
against
used
be
to
weapons
atomic
made
tistsof Los Alamoswho
AdolfHitlerin a Europeanwar and saw themused againstan
almostdefeatedJapanin an Asiaticwar.How muchone or another
in orderto slow
of us oughtto be willingto risknationalsecurity
down the nucleararmsrace is onlypartlya matterof technical
amongworldrenownedAmerias publicdisagreements
judgment,
remindus. Even in weighinga potential
constantly
can physicists
in relationto a potentialgain in some
of nationalinterest
sacrifice
we are,as moralmenwithpluralvaluesand
interest,
transnational
of
The policyperspectives
behavingas "traitriots."
pluralloyalties,
are as worthyof studyas thoseof high-level
scientists
influential
politicians.The unexmilitarymen, diplomats,and professional
adviserspose
scientific
of a statesman's
plicatedvalue preferences
the same kindof problemforthe responsiblestatesman-politician
6 On the composition
of the Americanscience comand characteristics
munityand on govemmentuse of 'scientificadvice, see RobertGilpin and
Wright,eds., Scientistsand NationalPolicy Making (New York:
Christopher
Press,1964).
ColumbiaUniversity
7 See "The Traitriot,"
Chapter 12 in his The Loyal and the Disloyal
of Chicago Press,1956), pp. 208-16.
(Chicago: The University
INTERNATIONAL
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The
ofotherexpertadvisers.8
as theunexplicated
valuepreferences
diplomat,and the proprofessional
civil servant,the professional
been learning
fessionalsoldierwho have formorethana century
advice may have lessonsto teach the
how to give value-neutral
newcomers
to thepolicyprocess.
studentsof interand particularly
Query:Do social scientists,
nationalrelations,
perhapsfeel thattheyare at least as muchenas
titledto whisperdirectly
intotheear of thestatesman-politician
thenaturalscientist?
Do thesocialscientists
fearaboutthenatural
fearedabout soldiers,thatif
scientists
whattheyhave sometimes
the physicists
are too close to the seat of power,theiradvicemay
so that
exhibit
whatAlfredVagtshas calledthe"viceofimmediacy,"
the statesman-politician
getsfractional
advice to deal withwhole
of worldpoliticsthatthey
policy?Is it thesecretdesireofstudents
and all otherexperts,
shouldstandbetweenthestatesman-politician
and soldiers,because theybelievethat
includingnaturalscientists
theirdistinctive
talentis to be able to adviseon wholepolicy?So
far,theyhave notsucceededin gettingthe Presidentto appointa
socialscienceadviserto servealongsidehis naturalscienceadviser.
wonder
The Americanstudentof worldpoliticsmaysometimes
how the Americanswanderedinto a race withtheirBritishand
superFrenchfriendsto see on whichside of theAtlanticthefirst
sonictransport
race, ever
would fly.The scienceand technology
was supposedto be betweenthe two
sincethetraumaof Sputnik,
sides of the Iron Curtainand not betweent-hetwo sides of the
wouldhave had anybetNorthAtlantic.
Whethera socialscientist
in makingthatpointifhe had been
terluckthana naturalscientist
in a positionto advisethehighestlevel of policymakers,thereis
of those
no way of knowing.In any case, the characteristics
establishment
scientists
who are partof the nationalpolicymaking
8 See especially Warner R. Schilling,"Scientists,Foreign Policy and
there
Politics,"in Gilpinand Wright,op. cit.,pp. 144-74,and the references
advice whichHenryTizard and F. A. Lindemanngave
citedto the conflicting
in 1942. See also WarnerR. Schilling,"The H-Bomb
the Britishgovernment
Decision: How to Decide WithoutActuallyChoosing,"PoliticalScience Quarterly76 (March 1961), pp. 24-46; RobertGilpin,AmericanScientistsand
Press,1962);
University
Nuclear Weapons Policy (Princeton,N.J.: Princeiton
and Harold K. Jacobsonand Eric Stein,Diplomats,Scientistsand Politicians:
The UnitedStatesand the NuclearTest Ban Negotiations(Ann Arbor,Mich.:
of MichiganPress,1966).
University
VOLUME 12, NUMBER 1, MARCH
1968
10
WILLiAMT. R. Fox
STU)ES
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11
to choose
beginto thinkof beingso fullypreparedas deliberately
war. The sciencerace may,however,yield clues as to the contenders'respectivecapabilitieswithsuch greatclaritythata trial
theremay be some
Furthermore,
by battlebecomesunnecessary.
10 See, for example,Bemard Brodie, ed., The AbsoluteWeapon (New
York: Harcourt,Brace and Co., 1946).
11 "Arms Races: Prerequisitesand Results>"in Carl J. Friedrichand
SeymourHarris, eds., Public Policy: Yearbook of the Graduate School of
Harvard University(Cambridge, Mass.: Graduate
Public Administration,
1958), pp. 41-86.
School of Public Administration,
VOLUME
12, NUMBER
1, MARcH- 1968
12
WILLIAM T. R. Fox
incidentalpeacetimepayoffs.Perhapsthe intensivedevelopment
forinterplanetary
travel,will so transof the fuelcell,ostensibly
forminterborough
travelbetweenthe variouspartsof New York
City as to transform
today'sgray smog and aerial sewer into
tomorrow's
brightblue skies.The thrillof new worldsto conquer
whichthesciencerace bringsintoview,notjusttheworldofouter
the worldof innerspace (here
space but theworldof Antarctica,
on
the
graveof the Moholeproject,
one maypause to shed a tear
whichmighthave told muchabout the Earth'sinterior)and the
may
raceto maketheworld'sdesertsbloom-all thesecompetitions
competition.
takesomeof theheat out of bipolarmilitary
One mustnot overstate
the case. The sciencerace can be deto change.
stabilizingand it can make the statesystemresistant
Even thoughsecrecycan have only a short-term
utilityin the
sciencerace itself,a shortperiodmay be enoughto implement
irreversible
decisionsof the firstimportance.Recommendations
forthelongrunwhichfailto takeaccountoftheshort-run
problem
are inappropriate.
It was a sciencerace whichhas todaymade the one big war
totallyunacceptable,but the sciencerace has neithereliminated
nor solvedproblemsthatin an earlierday seemedto make that
ITus, thesciencerace mayhave promoted
big war worthfighting.
All overtheworldthereare problems
the"deceleration
ofhistory."
too importantto ignore,but not importantenough to cause
each other.So history
and Moscowto chooseto destroy
Washington
slows down,the problemsremain,and some of themgrowdaily
moremenacing.
it may
If the sciencerace has deceleratedone kindof history,
advance
have acceleratedanother.The dizzypace of technological
to the erosionof thephysical,biological,
contributed
has certainly
and culturalresourcesof a planeton which over threebillion
humanbeingslive but on whichonlya fewhundredmillionenjoy
ofnon-recurrable
a standardoflivingmadepossibleby consumption
mineralresources.The sciencerace may be a problemgenerator
and a problempreserver,
especiallyif it has broughtabout what
of generalwar."'2
WalterMillishas called "thehypertrophy
12 This is the titleof the concludingchapterof his Armsand Men (New
York:Putnam,1956).
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12,
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1, MARCH
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14
WILLiAM T. R. Fox
We need notbelievethatonlydomesticpolitics
society.14
industrial
society.
will be affected
by the emergenceof thispost-industrial
world
We need notbelievein theutopiandreamof a depoliticized
made possiblebecausesciencehas providedthe way out. Science
race withthetwindisasters
doeshave itsusesin thecontemporary
bomb.Malthushas been proved
oftheatombomband thefertility
wrongnowforalmost200 years,butwithoutthemostcreativeuse
of our scientific
and technological
resources,it will fall to this
to have provedthatboth he and Hobbes were right
generation
afterall.
Sciencedoes beckonus to a new viewof worldpolitics.Thirty
politicalscientistto
yearsago it was possiblefora distinguished
is thfe
studyofwhogetswhat,when,and how."'15
writethat"politics
thatpolitics(includingworldpolitics)is a "zeroThe implication
sumgame"struggle
forpowerorthatthereis an ironfundofvalues
to be contesteddoes not in factdescribeaccuratelythe viewsof
phrase.No living
HaroldLasswell,thecoinerofthewho-gets-what
has a broaderview of t-hepotentialsof political
politicalscientist
man'slot,but the zero-sumgame view of
scienceforimproving
politicswas widelyprevalentthenand has been since.A political
in the1960's,one whohas sincebeen appointedto
writing
scientist
one of the highestposts occupiedby a politicalscientistin the
that of
ExecutiveBranchof the Americanfederalgovernment,
has written,
of Housingand UrbanDevelopment,
UnderSecretary
on
"Todayno nationalpoliticalsystemcan affordto concentrate
I understand
thi'sto mean
and allocativeproblems."'6
distributive
thata modempoliticalsystemincludinga worldpoliticalsystem
must,in the same writer'swords "have the capacityto translate
deengineered
effectively
basic scientific
knowledgeintoworkable,
of at leastthefirstFornationalpoliticalsystems
signand structure."
musthave the
rankingpowersthismeansthat "decision-makers
inassurancethatthe societytheydirectmaintainstechnological
14 "The Post-Industrial
Society,"in Eli Ginsberg,ed., Technologyand
Social Change (New York: Columbia UniversityPress, 1964), pp. 44-59.
Society (I )" in The Public Interest,
See also, "Notes on the Post-Industrial
No. 6 (Winter1967) and (H) in No. 7 (Spring 1967).
15 Harold D. Lasswell, Politics:-Who Gets What, When, How (New
York: McGraw-HillBook Co., Inc., 1936).
Is Robert C. Wood, "Scientistsand Politics: The Rise of an Apolitical
Wright,op. cit.,p. 54.
Elite," in RobertGilpinand Christopher
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