Small answers to big questions: science, technology and International Relations

Author(s)

Amanda Almeida Domingues

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2019-05-30

Examining board members

Janina Onuki; Ivan Filipe de Almeida Lopes Fernandes; Amâncio Jorge Silva Nunes de Oliveira; Maria Ester Soares Dal Poz

• Advisor: Janina Onuki; Elizabeth Balbachevsky

Abstract

What are the big issues in Science and Technology and International Relations? Those so fundamental that lie at the root of understanding these fields? Or understanding the study and the relations between them? This paper demonstrates, through several case studies, the political facet of S&T in the international arena. It also shows the challenges, successes and criticisms of using S&T as an international instrument. The first part of the paper offers an overview of the advantages of adopting strategies that contemplate S&T at the international level, presenting several examples of how the states have implemented international cooperation strategies and Science Diplomacy. The second part presents a critique of the conception of S&T as a neutral resource, advancing the thesis that S&T activities are loaded with political content and therefore confer ideological content on scientific partnerships and negotiations. In sum, this work demonstrates that politics is intrinsic not only to the software of S&T, or its theoretical component, but also to its \"hardware,\" that is, to the constructed and concrete elements of society. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/26005-1 - Foreign Policy and Science Diplomacy: development and international insertion.
• Grantee: Amanda Almeida Domingues
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate