CHAPTER 17— SIX SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES WHICH 

 FURTHER ILLUSTRATE THE INTERACTION 



The remarks introducin*:: chaptoi- Ki apply to this cha]:)ter as well. 

 The foi'niat ti-overnino; the commentaries to follow did'ers only slightly 

 from that used in summarizing' the six cases just presented: 



Statement of the issue 



Importance of the issue 



How the issue developed 



U.S. involvement 



Role of Congress 



Status of the issue 



Prospects and options 



Author's reassessment 



Some illustrative questions 



ISSUE ONE— THE EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 



Statement of the Issue 



This initial study ^°* was designed to provide an overview of the 

 subject, and at the same time to express a common theme for the 

 series. Thus: 



The focus of this chapter is on technology. It is intended: To delineate the 

 important ways in which technology influences diplomacy; to show technological 

 change as a process producing effects that diplomats must deal with ; and to raise 

 questions as to whether and how governments can make purposeful, constructive 

 use of these processes to further diplomatic objectives. '"^ 



The theme was stated in universal terms, but an assumption of the 

 study series was — and remains — that the United States could further 

 its interests and its position in the world by systematically and 

 judiciously exploiting its technological skills ancl resources. Seven 

 years and 12 studies later, however, the project director and associate 

 director find themselves impressed not so much by the opportunities 

 (though these are many and great) as by the dimensions of the 

 obstacles to their realization, and by the lack of appreciation even in 

 the United States itself of both the opportunities and the obstacles. 

 In the world at large, irresponsible expressions of nationalism and 

 independence oppose the working out of acceptable accommodation 

 w^th the imperatives of technology-induced interdependence. There 

 is evidently a dearth of national and world leadership that sufficiently 

 comprehends and takes determined steps to direct the dynamics of 

 technological change. Also largely lacking are concepts and machinery 

 of mid-range and long-range planning for both U.S. and global growth 

 and development which take appropriate account of the likely im- 



'M U.S. Congress, House, Committpe on Foreign Affairs, The Evolution of International Teclinology, a 

 study in the series on Science, Technology, and American Diplomacy prepared for the Subcommittee on 

 National Security Policy and Scientific Developments by Dr. Franklin P. Huddle, Science Policy Re- 

 search Division, Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., U.S. Government 

 Printing Olhce, December 1070. See vol. 11, pp. (;()7-(i80. 



iM Ibid., p. (in. 



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