1890 



Another is the reduction of motivations that tempt nations to employ 

 the technology of destruction. The central goal of U.S. diplomacj'^ is 

 to achieve not merely national but global security. On this point alone, 

 diplomacy's relation to technology has unprecedented significance for 

 the future. In the individual nation-state, men make laws to protect 

 themselves from each other ; but in the anarchic world of states without 

 law, only fear, perceived self-interest, and sustained diplomatic efforts 

 stand in the way of destruction by technological means, 



INTERACTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY WITH DIPLOMACY 



Technology is linked to diplomacy in many ways. If technology pre- 

 sents mankind with the greatest threat of all time, it also presents the 

 greatest opportunities for mitigating sources of conflict rooted in dif- 

 ferences of access to and effective use of the basic resources needed for 

 human survival. Second, technological accomplishment can contribute 

 to diplomatic leadership and respect in the community of nations. 

 Third, the flow of technology from nation to nation is not only a 

 major subject of trade but a determinant of future economic well-being, 

 and as such should be a prime subject for diplomatic analysis ' and 

 jjolicjTnaking to eliminate a prime source of international conflict. 

 Fourth, technology supported by competent scientific underpinning 

 secures domestic economic opportunity and appropriate growth, 

 making possible a busy and productive society necessary for the back- 

 ing of peaceful diplomatic initiatives abroad. 



Neither the evolution nor the transfer of technology is an unmiti- 

 gated good. The achievement of nuclear weapons may have put an end 

 to general war among major nations. But the threat of mutual destruc- 

 tion persists, as does war of more limited magnitude. On a lesser scale, 

 many of the technologies mankind has developed yield both goods and 

 bads; and as has been shown, these technologies and their consequences 

 diffuse rapidly across boundaries and oceans. Diplomacy has thus the 

 double task of maximizing beneficial consequences and minimizing un- 

 desirable consequences of technology in international application. 



In short, technology, its translation into economic consequences, 

 and its management for purposes of global amity present the primary 

 variable as well as a principal substance of present and future diplo- 

 macy. If the interplay between technology and diplomacy is not 

 managed rationally, it will be conducted irrationally. The irrational 

 conduct of international-technological relations in an age of totally 

 destructive military weapons presents the extreme of danger. The 

 rational application of present and prospective technology for the 

 sustained achievement of generally improved health and living stand- 

 ards of the world's people presents the extreme of opportunity. The 

 challenge to American diplomacy is to design institutions and methods 

 to formulate and implement rational policies to reduce the danger and 

 exploit the opportunity. 



THREE GUIDING PRINCIPLES 



A useful political principle to guide the course of American di- 

 plomacy in this quest is one that has guided the American political 

 system for much of its 200-year history. The American political tradi- 

 tion is based on the principle that adversary parties compete for 

 power while rerognizing the fundamental constraint that the values 



