A fruitful mistake --- In Spanish the most widely used term is "diplomacia científica" which is imprecise since this means "scientific diplomacy". The correct term would be "Diplomacia de la ciencia". "This imprecision, however, can be fruitful as it invites us to consider a new perspective: the exercise of diplomacy through the use of scientific tools. This perspective is very little considered in traditional studies where science and diplomacy are separated. It does not necessarily have to be this way and the use of scientific tools in diplomacy does not It is only useful, but necessary. An example might be the use of game theory in negotiations. Game theory is a scientific tool that is widely taught in negotiation courses. Before game theory, what was taught in these courses was a set of heuristic rules based on subjective experiences. It was taught, for example, that to negotiate with a Latin American it was necessary to start by talking about soccer or things like that which, as is evident, had no scientific basis. I think it is important not only to define what science diplomacy is, but what it should be. From this point of view, scientific diplomacy should also be the use of scientific tools in the exercise of diplomacy and of scientific criteria in decision-making.

Source author: Carlos Arturo Garcia Bonilla carlos.garcia@cancilleria.gov.co