Science, Technology, and Public Policy

Technological innovation and the politics of global justice are two fields that interact quite extensively in international diplomatic discourse and public debate. Controversial issues, such as accessing essential medicines, reducing greenhouse gases, conserving biological diversity, providing clean energy, and expanding the adoption of green technologies, require answers at the intersection of technological innovation, international diplomacy, and global justice. Our approach is to start off with the broader understanding that justice is rights-based and then proceed to analyze it using a goal-based framework. This brings into sharp focus the relationships between innovation and human rights.

The power of Pan-Africanism as a guiding vision for the continent’s development is widely studied, mostly as an aspirational phenomenon. At worst, Pan-Africanism has often been seen as a poor imitation of American federalism or European integration. Both of these perceptions do not reflect the profound nature of the role that the ideology of Pan-Africanism played in shaping the continent’s economic transformation. 

"Over decades, Canadian governments have emasculated or killed institutions that gave independent advice on science and technology so that they are now among the weakest in the G7. Federal and provincial governments increasingly demand that research funding be tied to matching money from industry, so work that threatens industry's interests does not get funded. It's a good idea to tie some applied work in engineering to industrial interests, but this requirement must not apply to policy analysis."

"Lacking natural resources, the country was forced from the outset to adopt a long-term view that involved investing in human capital and imparting a strong work ethic. These are critical sources of economic transformation that continue to elude African countries. Their inability to focus attention on entrepreneurship, innovation, and management is partly a result of the excessive policy attention to the role of natural resources."

"Mo Ibrahim has put a price tag on the quality of Africa's public leadership. The intensity of the debate shows that one prize is not enough. The time has come for Africans entrepreneurs to create more prizes to recognise, celebrate and inspire excellence in public leadership. That would be a more appropriate response to Mo Ibrahim's challenge."

South Korea's phenomenal rise has been studied extensively by political scientists and economists both in terms of its impact on democratisation and as a role model for economic development. Yet little attention has been devoted to exploring the nexus between economic development and foreign policy. As a rising middle power, analysis of South Korea's foreign policy is crucial to our understanding of the power structure and future relations in East Asia.

"To harness the globally available technologies, African leaders will need to take into account the multisectoral dimension of African agriculture and pay particular attention to the urgency of investing in rural infrastructure, higher agricultural training and creation of regional markets."

This brief looks at the so-far inadequate responses of the Chinese government and makes the case that new institutions are needed to allow China to meet this growing challenge.