Scientists and the Making of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

Georgetown University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This grant supports a two-year NSF Science and Technology Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship. This fellowship is being carried out in the Program in Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. The primary objectivies of this project are professional development of the researcher in the discipline of science studies and the continuation of a research project into the role of scientists in international relations. The Professional development objective is bein carried out through a mentoring arrangement between the researcher and Charles Weiss, Director of STIA. In addition, the researcher is attending advanced courses given in the School of Foreign Service, primarily on international relations and foreign policy. Writing is a major component of the project. The researcher is seeking out constructive feedback on his writing from his mentor and other faculty at the School of Foreign Services. The research project uses methodologies developed in history of recent science (archival and library research and oral history interviews with participants) and is informed by theories of international relations and practices of foreign policy making. The long-term objective of the research project is to provide a detailed historical study of how individual scienctists, primarily from the United States and Europe, shaped the political-technical content of amajor international agreement, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, over a period of four decades. Political scientists have studeied the role of experts in various branches of the government, but less so the avenues used by scientists to bring scientific and technical expertise to bear on specific problems in international relations. The suggested coupling of science studies and political science will advance the dialog between science studies practitioners, political scientists, policy makers and scientists. This research has historical, sociological and political dimensions, which make it particularly well suited to the Science and Technology Studies Program.