Science Policies and the New International Order

Abstract

The new international political order has eroded the former bipolarity that was the mark of the postwar international system. Several cleavages within the Western and Eastern blocs, together with changes in the economic and political status of developing countries, have provided a much more complex system. The new context led to the disappearance of the former division of scientific and technological labor based on the dominance of the United States and the Soviet Union. Attempts to build some kind of "scientific internationalism" as an extension of the new international economic and political orders aspired to does not seem to have much future, as witnessed by the recent Vienna UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development. Several different national science policies seem, however, possible, and are briefly discussed, including policies of technological feats, alternative technologies, and comparative advantages.