Courting Science

Securing the Foundation for a Second American Century

Damon V. Coletta

• Publisher: Stanford Security Studies
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780804798945, 9780804798938
• eBook ISBN: 9780804798969
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: National Security
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In Courting Science, Damon Coletta offers a novel explanation for the decline of American leadership in world affairs. Whether the American Century ends sooner rather than later may depend on America's capacity for self-reflection and, ultimately, self-restraint when it comes to science, technology, and engineering. Democracy's affinity for advanced technology has to be balanced against scientific research and progress as a global enterprise. In an era of rising challengers to America's lead in the international order and an increasingly globalized civil society, a "Scientific State" has a better chance of extending its dominance. In order to draw closer to this ideal, though, the United States will have to reconsider its grand strategy. It must have a strategy that scrutinizes how tightly it constrains, how narrowly it directs, and how far it trusts American scientists. If given the opportunity, scientists have the potential to lead a second American Century through domestic science and technology policy, international diplomacy, and transnational networks for global governance.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1. A Second American Century
• 2. Science and the Hegemon: Speaking Truth to Power
• 3. Power, Polarity, and Hegemony in the Twenty-first Century
• 4. Science and the American State: Mobilizing Democracy
• 5. Science and Diplomacy: U.S. Hegemony and the Rise of the Rest
• 6. Science and Global Governance at the Final Frontier
• 7. Science, Grand Strategy, and Prospects for American Influence
• Notes
• Index