The last two centuries have seen an unprecedented growth of international collaborative enterprises in science and those scholars who have looked at these historical developments have emphasized their merits, especially in terms of connecting local centres of knowledge production and propelling greater circulation globally. Meanwhile, the notion of ‘science diplomacy’ has gained traction among scholars and practitioners too, especially to underscore that these exercises have been equally important to improving international relations. Yet we lack still of a convincing historical narrative capable of displaying an articulation of science diplomacy processes across centuries. What kind of stories can be told that connect scientific collaborations with international relations?
This paper offers a contribution to the development of a narrative by focussing on collaborative exercises promoted by the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the context of the Cold War, and especially between the late 1950s and the 1980s. Drawing on the history of the alliance’s Science Committee, it aims to show that it would be wrong to consider the promotion of collaborative science at NATO simply as an addition to its political and military histories. This promotion represented as a form of ‘backchannel’ or ‘track-two’ diplomacy that was in fact decisive to restore a dialogue and evade existing issues between otherwise quarrelling allies. Indeed, the paper shows that it was the conversation on priorities and transitions in the sponsorship of scientific enterprises that typified cyclical processes of rejuvenation needed to keep the alliance together.
