Policy Brief and Academic Article: Why science diplomacy needs evaluative backing

In this new policy brief, S4D4C team member Tim Flink presents a first set of guiding ideas that can be used by policy actors to evaluate science diplomacy strategies. Science diplomacy has been a rather popular concept that has increasingly gained recognition and relevance. In this enthusiastic wave science diplomacy has been broadened to encompass more and more actors, stakeholders and activities while only little focus has been put on the empirical relevance of science diplomacy. The policy brief proposes to palliate this by advocating for science diplomacy actions to effectively be evaluated.

Concretely Tim recommends for evaluation to 1) be designed comparatively in relation to time, space and actors, 2) evaluations should ask if actions are, on a minimum level, not disadvantageous for any actor and, on a maximum level, beneficial for all, 3) The competitive sides of science diplomacy must be taken into consideration, without disapproving them a priori and 4) evaluations might not only relate actions as being part of science diplomacy only, as they can also contribute to adjacent concepts and discourses.

The four recommendations made in the policy brief aim to start a discussion on how to assess the impact of science diplomacy activities necessary to further refine and advance the field. Evaluations will help to discern what type of promises can be made in the name of science diplomacy and therefore will help to make science diplomacy actions more focused and effective.

The policy brief is available here

WhySDNeedsEvaluativeBacking_PolicyBrief_S4D4C

Please cite as: Flink, T. 2021. Why science diplomacy needs evaluative backing. S4D4C POLICY BRIEF, February 2021. Available at https://www.s4d4c.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WhySDNeedsEvaluativeBacking_PolicyBrief_S4D4C.pdf

Update November 2021 (after the end of the project):

An extended report was prepared in the project and published in November 2021 in open access by Science and Public Policy:

Abstract: Science diplomacy has caught remarkable attention in public policy and academic research over the last fifteen years. However, the concept is plagued by a huge talk–action discrepancy: its public discourse has reached a problematic state of dazzling self-adulation, while it is unclear if and how the actual policies and associated organizations live up to these expectations. The article reconstructs three structural causes to explain the recent hype about science diplomacy. It further encourages actors to organize evaluations that ask whether and how actions of science diplomacy can be valuable. In this regard, a first set of fundamental principles is proposed for setting up an evaluative framework. In conclusion, the article advises science diplomacy actors from democratic states and institutions, from both academic research and public policy, to stop dreaming about soft power influence on authoritarian states and regimes but rather face new geopolitical realities.

Suggested citation: Flink, T. 2021. Taking the pulse of science diplomacy and developing practices of valuation, Science and Public Policy, 2021; scab074, https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scab074

Category: Publications

Posted by S4D4C Team

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