1605 



current examples involving problems of larger scale (both tech- 

 nologically and diplomatically) could be cited: e.g., in the area of 

 international agreements on the use of earth satellites for television 

 broadcasting or for earth resources surveys. 



The most recent step in the centuries-old, but rapidly accelerating, 

 progression from simple manual tools to systems of great complexity 

 has been the introduction of computers into large systems to automate 

 the making of routine decisions in their management. "These systems 

 have now become so complicated in design and function that even to 

 build them has come to require elaborate systems of planning and con- 

 trol, and these have also required the assistance of computers." "^ 

 This complexity too adds to the problems and opportunities of 

 diplomacy : 



On the one hand, complexities of systems design present formidable obstacles to 

 quick understanding of these large enterprises. On the other hand, it has been 

 suggested that the disciplines and orderly methodologies they require can make a 

 direct contribution to the processes of diplomatic analysis and problem solving.'" 



By way of example, complex systems like air transportation and 

 satellite communications "can serve both to help and hinder the work 

 of the diplomat: While information can now be transmitted virtually 

 instantaneously, to facilitate long-range bargaining, the time available 

 for decisionmaking has decreased. The traditional conduct of secret, 

 official diplomacy tends to be frustrated by radio and television 

 propaganda and by educational, cultural, and scientific exchanges. 

 Swift transit of trouble-shooting negotiators to points of tension by 

 air transport or for consultation with national leaders is counteracted 

 by the ability of troublemakers and dissident groups to use these 

 same means of travel." '-" 



The variety of technological innovations to which the individual 

 citizen is now exposed "seems to have increased by orders of magni- 

 tude in the past quarter-century. . . . The innovative trentl is 

 indicated by the automation and productivity of agriculture and 

 industry; the great variety of consumer goods in the home; . . . the 

 introduction of computers into banks, brokerage houses, ticket 

 offices, the management of credit cards, and other services; . . . and 

 the great range of different vehicles in service in the air, on the high- 

 ways, and in shops, airports, hea\y construction projects, and urban 

 areas." And here again there is an added burden on diplomacy: 

 "Assigning priorities among a growing array of salient developments 

 becomes increasingly difficult as a problem of formulating and imple- 

 menting foreign policy." ^^^ 



The range and pervasiveness of impacts of onrushing technology 

 are evidenced in many ways. Historical concepts of war, including the 

 Von Clausewitz doctrine of war as a continuation of diplomacy by 

 other means, have been overtaken b}^ atomic weapons and their long- 

 range delivery systems. "Industrial productivity, supported by tech- 

 nological innovations, has risen so greatly in relation to hours of work 

 that a 'postindustrial' condition can be foreseen in which standards of 

 living will no longer be limited by the length of the workweek." The 

 future adequacy of mineral and fuel supplies is increasingly threatened 

 as production and consumption continue to rise. Impacts of escalating 

 generation of power on environmental quality are a source of growling 



"» Huddle, The luvlution of Intirnational Technology, p. (ill. 



1" lljid. 



^■0 Ibid., p. 052. 



>-i Ibid., p. 015. 



