Scientists and World Order: The Uses of Technical Knowledge in International Organizations

Scientists and World Order explores the intersection of scientific expertise and global governance, examining how internationally active scientists conceive of their responsibilities and how their knowledge shapes policy. It traces the evolution of nine major international science programs between the 1960s and 1970s and reveals how technical expertise becomes institutionalized, contested, and refracted through political negotiation. The book offers a critical framework for understanding the promises and limits of scientific expertise in shaping world order.

Format: Hardback
Length: 380 pages
Publication date: 27 May 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

Scientists and World Order: The Uses of Technical Knowledge in International Organizations by Ernst B. Haas, Mary Pat Williams, and Don Babai is a groundbreaking study that explores the intersection of scientific expertise and global governance. Through extensive interviews with over two hundred scientists and officials from various international organizations, including the United Nations, UNESCO, WHO, and the European Communities, the book delves into how internationally active scientists perceive their responsibilities and how their knowledge influences policy-making. The authors examine three distinct "world order models" - rationalist, pragmatic, and skeptical - to demonstrate how different cognitive assumptions about knowledge and action shape institutional programs in diverse fields such as environmental management and economic development. By tracing the evolution of nine major international science programs between the 1960s and 1970s, the authors reveal how technical expertise becomes institutionalized, contested, and refracted through political negotiation. At stake is whether science can serve as a transnational language for addressing pressing global challenges like poverty, disease, energy, and pollution, or whether political constraints and competing goals limit its impact. Combining political science, sociology of science, and international relations, Scientists and World Order provides a critical framework for understanding the promises and limitations of scientific expertise in shaping world order. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates the University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them a voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating back to 1893, Voices Revived publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship that spans a wide range of academic disciplines.

Weight: 726g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520364578