CHAPTER 20— HIGH-TECHNOLOGY DIPLOMACY VERSUS 

 LOW-TECHNOLOGY DIPLOMACY 



The theme of this essay is the importance of national policy in. 

 technology for diplomacy. Manifestly, other elements complement 

 technology in affecting the relations among nations: defense policy, 

 economic policy, labor policy, and policy on aid to industry for ex- 

 ample. But the focus here is on technology policy per se. The approach 

 used is to distinguish two kinds of technology, and to distinguish 

 their separate relations to diplomacy, in order to define the different 

 ways in which diplomats need to interest themselves in technology 

 generally. 



The evidence presented in the 12 studies in this series indicates that 

 technology is a major force in shaping the world of diplomacy. Various 

 attempts have been made to distinguish different classes of technology 

 and to formulate distinctive national strategies for each. One form of 

 classification has been based on size : the concept of "economy of scale," 

 by which increases in size of units of capital produced marginal gains 

 in economic efficiency. Thus, "big industry" was able to outpace 

 "small industry" in competition for markets and profitability. Another 

 form of classification was based on the idea of "heavy" versus "light" 

 industry; in the Soviet Union, for example, great stress was placed 

 on such heavy industry as steel-making, which was considered the 

 key to industrial power. 



Emergence of High Technology 



However, during the Cold War Era, with its emphasis on nuclear 

 weaponry, electronic systems, computers, and aerospace, another 

 scheme of classification came into use. This was the concept that the 

 industry of highly developed countries could be classified according to 

 the rate of change and degree of "sophistication" in its designs, based 

 on extensive use of applied science. Research-intensive industries were 

 described as "high" technology, while more traditional and older — 

 often less progressive — industries were "low technology." Hoa\ ever, it 

 is significant that the larger an industry grows as it exploits the ad- 

 vantages of economy of scale, the less easily can it adapt itself to 

 technological innovations. 



In the late 1960s, concern was expressed — especially in France — 

 over the asserted superiority of the United States in the industrial 

 exploitation of new technology.^"^ This alleged superiority was as- 

 sociated, in the literature, with the heavy U.S. Government invest- 

 ment in science and technology for atomic energy, weaponry, aero- 

 space, and supporting technologies, as well as management skills, 

 high standards of education, technical training, and the existence of a 

 large and affluent market at home. The role of the U.S. -based multi- 

 national corporation was also seen as of great importance. 



^os See especially J. J. Servan-Schreiber. The American Challenge, translated from the French hy Eonald 

 Steel. New York, Atheneum, IPfig, p. 27. Alsr. Franklin P. Huddle, Science, Technology, a-nd American Diplo- 

 macy: The Evolution of International Technology. Prepared for the Suhconimittee on National Socurity 

 Policy and Scientific Developments of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 

 Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1970, vol. 11, pp. 624, 651, and 662-663. 



0761) 



