Year: 2026
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter argues that science has become a central arena of geopolitical rivalry, not only for access to technologies but also for control over the rules, infrastructures, and authorities that shape how knowledge is produced, validated, and mobilised. These dynamics are conceptualised as epistemic governance, whereby power operates by defining what counts as true, credible, and relevant for public action. The analysis highlights how multiple actors—states, universities, funding agencies, and international organisations—structure these conditions through security policies, funding instruments, regulatory norms, and scientific partnerships. Empirically, the chapter examines three cases: the United States, China, and the European Union, illustrating modalities of epistemic governance—knowledge securitisation, technological autonomy, and conditional cooperation—and showing how geopolitical priorities reshape the production, circulation, and legitimisation of knowledge internationally. At the same time, the integration of artificial intelligence reconfigures scientific practice by complicating decision chains, mediating analysis through socio-technical systems, and challenging forms of responsibility, destabilising trust grounded in transparency and researcher accountability. Scientific integrity emerges not as a stable norm but as a negotiated political object with diplomatic implications, particularly in domains such as climate governance (e.g., the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Science diplomacy must preserve credibility to sustain legitimate knowledge systems in a fragmented world order.
Source: Springer eBooks
Authors: J. Duberry, L. Langlois
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7204133627