Scientific Diplomacy and the Universality of Science

Members of the Obama Administration have mentioned using science for diplomatic purposes on various occasions, most notably when President Barack Obama himself included this idea in his address at Cairo University in June. Today, SEEDMAGAZINE.COM published an article by Harvard's Sheila Jasanoff on this subject, which you can read here. Seed has asked me to provide commentary on her article as this week's Featured Blogger, which you can read here.

The Jasanoff article focuses specifically on the appointment of science envoys, a central component of the Obama Administration's scientific diplomacy plan. Mine, on the other hand, is more about scientific diplomacy in general. I generally agree with the Jasanoff article, although I think that her "five common misconceptions" should be taken with a grain of salt, since they're more related to the application of science rather than using a common interest in science to bridge a cultural gap.