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A lack of scientific diplomacy leaves Canada at a disadvantage on the world stage
In 2020, Global Affairs Canada did seek to develop a strategic approach to its disparate efforts at scientific diplomacy. (Pexels photo)
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While other global leaders in research and technology engage in concerted scientific diplomacy, Canada’s efforts have been haphazard and ad hoc.
Ever since the Italian Galileo elaborated on the work of the Polish Copernicus in the 17th century to advance the heliocentric model of the solar system (to the Pope’s dismay), international collaboration has been a feature of scientific pursuit.
Fast-forward to four centuries later, when governments began getting involved in international scientific collaboration to support and promote such interactions. It is notable, for example, that Canada’s National Research Council was established in 1916 to promote scientific and industrial research in collaboration with the U.K. in support of the war effort.
However, it has only been in recent years that the idea of science diplomacy conducted by foreign ministries has emerged. In this contemporary context, Canada has fallen behind.
Whether science in the service of diplomacy or diplomacy in the service of science, that relationship was relatively quiet until the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Governments reacted to the need to facilitate international scientific collaboration to develop vaccines as quickly as possible (in this case one year rather than the usual 8-10 years).
More importantly, it also sensitized political and diplomatic leaders to the need for timely, accurate and informative scientific data that can only be developed and shared rapidly and widely through cross-border collaboration.
Clearly, science diplomacy has a useful role to play in international relations.
Peer nations first off the mark
In the U.S., science diplomacy has its own office in the White House and is run by the State Department. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest scientific society in the world (and publisher of Science magazine), houses the Centre for Science Diplomacy to help streamline international science collaboration efforts with the State Department’s diplomatic efforts.
Similarly, the E.U. in the last five years has launched numerous efforts to achieve a strategic framework to ensure national and continental research and innovation efforts support and are consistent with the EU’s diplomatic interests. These efforts simultaneously seek to ensure that diplomatic efforts support the research community, and that decisions are informed by scientific evidence and expert knowledge.
Meanwhile, Canada’s numerous scientific establishments, including universities, research foundations and national and provincial science research agencies are actively involved with international partners. But they do so with little to no support or co-ordination from Global Affairs Canada.
False start for Canada
In 2020, Global Affairs Canada did seek to develop a strategic approach to its disparate efforts at scientific diplomacy. However, this initiative was soon downgraded to a less ambitious “policy framework” paper.
The end result was a policy paper. But rather than setting out a strategic approach to deploying science diplomacy, it laid out a review of who within the government of Canada conducts international scientific collaboration.
This kind of guideline encourages parties to talk to each other so that they are aware of what others within the Canadian government are doing on the global stage. However, given what the U.S. and E.U. have put in place and compared with the initially ambitious scope of the exercise, what ultimately emerged was a glorified Post-it Note.
One reason for this failure, as I have argued, is that Global Affairs Canada regards science diplomacy largely as a function of trade diplomacy.
Science diplomacy should not just be part of trade promotion
Rather, a more strategic and fulsome examination of science diplomacy would situate it at the intersection of cultural, trade and development diplomacy.
In other words, by strategically embedding international scientific collaboration in existing cultural diplomacy, Canada’s overall influence or “soft power” would be enhanced. Similar to how we currently showcase our artists and authors to demonstrate Canadian excellence, so, too, Canadian scientists, researchers and graduate students might be supported to better promote Canadian excellence and global citizenship.
Helping others to develop
While science diplomacy with developing countries would not necessarily achieve significant direct research advancements for Canada, it could be invaluable to those countries with nascent scientific capacities. After all, at its core, Canada’s development assistance should support the economic, social, political and scientific advancement of developing countries including meeting Goal 17 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Such a strategic approach would require Global Affairs Canada to develop leadership across its three main functional activities: political/cultural, trade/economic, and development.
Unfortunately, its internal corporate culture is strongly resistant to such cross-functional collaboration.
The three streams are stubbornly siloed with many who worked for the former Canadian International Development Agency seemingly still bitter about their forced marriage with the former Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade – largely due to a loss of independence and the nostalgia of a romanticized past felt by long-time staffers from CIDA’s heyday.
For such cross-functional collaboration in science diplomacy to take place and be effective (and not simply keep colleagues informed of what you are up to), senior Global Affairs Canada leadership must become responsive to the growing and highly consequential importance of science diplomacy.
Ultimately, taking a more structured and strategic approach is about much more than Canadian research and its role in the world. It is about providing an effective platform for Canada’s interests generally on an increasingly crowded and competitive international stage.
This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
