Accelerating Basic Science in an Intergovernmental Framework: Learning from CERN's Science Diplomacy

Abstract

CERN offers a highly relevant case to probe some of the assumptions of current debates on science diplomacy. Building on the existing literature and a number of expert interviews, this article discusses the origin of CERN, its governance structure, and the particular constellation of interests that form part of CERN's science diplomacy. We understand science diplomacy as a practice and explore this at the intersection between goals and values, everyday conduct, and the governance structure guiding interactions. Reaching beyond CERN as a specific case, we address the tension at the heart of science diplomacy debates between promoting peaceful relations and furthering strategic and national interests. We argue that it is precisely within this tension that science diplomacy unfolds. Further, the particular governance structure that CERN employs emerges as a blueprint for supporting a level playing field between scientists and diplomats and promoting scientific goals beyond narrow political considerations. Lastly, we make suggestions for capacity building and training in science diplomacy that focus on bringing the ‘world of science’ and the ‘world of diplomacy’, a distinction which emerged prominently from the literature and the interviews, together in useful ways.

Global perspectives on science diplomacy: Exploring the diplomacy‐knowledge nexus in contemporary histories of science

“…See also, for example, Moedas (2016); Ruffini (2017). CERN has, in fact, been described in recent years as a model of science diplomacy; see Höne & Kurbalija (2018), as well as the UNESCO 2015 workshop The CERN Model, United Nations and Global Public Goods: Addressing Global Challenges (UNESCO, n.d.). 12 For the notion of "imagined past" in the sciences, see Wilson (2017).…”

Making Global Policy

“…Science in diplomacy as evidence for global policy actors. For example, the knowledge generated by epistemic communities such as the cetologists in the development of the International Whaling Commission (Haas, 2015: 17) (Höne and Kurbalija, 2018). Of special note is the European Commission's research agenda on Science and Cultural Diplomacy promoted through the Horizon 2020 grant scheme with funding for three separate KNETs on the topic (European Commission, 2014).…”

“…Building the transnational capacities of government agencies suggests bureaucratic reform as well as resourcing new directions in civil service training around TGN policy concerns. Training of this type is 'heavily underexplored from the point of view of professional education outside' of the diplomatic service (Kaltofen and Acuto, 2018: 13;Jones, 2019;Höne and Kurbalija, 2018).…”

New development: The unknown world of transnational organizations in Europe—challenges for accountability

“…There are also tens of border and cross-border regions, connecting close (Norway-Sweden), or not-so close (Sicily-Malta), neighbours; sometimes reaching beyond the EU (Finland-Russia). And some organizations have a clear research focus, such as those in the European research infrastructure and the CERN institute in Switzerland, where the EU is one of the partners (Höne & Kurbalija, 2018).…”

“…Multi-level governance does not confront the sovereignty of states directly … states in the European Union are being melded gently into a multi-level polity. 'Gentle melding' may sound nice and cosy, yet subsequent research on multi-level governance found that jurisdictional overlaps can also lead to continuous negotiations, if not outright struggles and fighting, between different powers (Höne & Kurbalija, 2018). Regional initiatives are also not only functional and regional, they are also political initiatives with which powerful actors try to gain influence (Arter, 2000).…”