Sustainable Technology Diplomacy, an instrument for peace and confidence building

Various researchers and policy analysts have made empirical S&T diplomacy studies. There are, also, some endeavors towards theoretical modeling, though;they are yet to be to the level to promote a general discourse at the academic level. Short of a theoretical platform agreed upon to have a common understanding of multiple aspects and dynamics of S&T diplomacy, no practical guidelines are extracted for the research in this field. This paper is a preliminary attempt to fill this gap. Narrowing down the subject, it introduces a theoretical and practical platform of S&T diplomacy at the national level. The paper in the first part establishes that S&T diplomacy is an extension of innovation policy and enumerates the conditions of its effective governance. In the second part, it offers a theoretical platform for research, and to build this platform, two steps are taken: 1)-Deepening the technological innovation system approach by differentiating between the national and the international dimensions of the functions of the innovation system, 2) Aligning the rationales of Power (Foreign policy) and Learning (innovation policy) by implanting the operationalized concept of power as instrument and goal in the context of innovation policy.

Keywords:

S&T diplomacy , Innovation Policy , Alignment of rationales , Policy Mix , TIS , Power , Learning