The Politics of Science and Technology

Extract

In his presidential address to the American Political Science Association in 1956, Harold Lasswell anticipated many of the scientific and technical developments of the ensuing years. Students of politics have been slow to accept the challenge he posed. The advance of science and technology is leading to notable realignments within the nation. No less, the relationships of nation-states are undergoing substantial alteration. These changes raise two questions with increasing urgency. What adjustments in our political institutions are necessary to accommodate the scientific revolution? What purposes is the growing power of technology to serve? From very different perspectives the three books under review face these questions. The Scientific Estate is concerned with constitutional balance among the elite groups of American society. The New Utopians seeks to moderate the Utopian tendencies of the systems scientists. Empire Revisited suggests that technological power be used positively to maintain order throughout the world.