6 - Globalization

Summary

American diplomacy shaped the globalization of science. Although the United States withdrew from UNESCO, United States assistance linked researchers around the world and the country supported numerous UN programs, including those related to technical assistance, health, and the environment. American negotiators also pushed for intellectual protections through the UN, World Bank, and IMF. As the globalization of R&D increased foreign competition, American administrations stressed domestic innovation. Reagan administration priorities limited multilateral cooperation, whether with the G7 or NATO, and Space Station Freedom and SDI provoked disagreements with NATO allies, even as the United States expanded cooperation with China, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Meanwhile, the Japanese national semiconductor initiative sparked an immediate response: congress legalized research consortia and President Reagan announced an American competitiveness agenda. The Soviet Union struggled to keep pace in high-tech industries and the collapse of the Soviet Union altered international relations, prompting American attempts to integrate former Soviet researchers into the scientific community. After the cold war, the reorientation toward commerce in American scientific foreign relations increased, as international competition in a global knowledge economy replaced the conflict over communism.