Abstract
ABSTRACT ITER (short for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, and the Latin word for ‘the way’, as in ‘the way to new energy’), a controlled thermonuclear fusion experiment currently being built in Cadarache, France, is one of the world’s largest technoscientific collaborations. ITER’s complex organisation is rooted in decisions taken during the early negotiation phase in the 1990s. This article focuses on this initial period of the ITER negotiations, showing the importance of reciprocity and compromise in the organizational decisions of the project. These decisions were enacted by actors and organisations who strived to keep ITER together through continuous ‘backstage’ diplomacy work. This work included finding acceptable compromises for the involved Parties on both a diplomatic and scientific level. Looking closely at such work reveals the entangled character of science and diplomacy in large international technoscientific collaborations, as well as the need for compromise to make a project like ITER materialise.
Highlights
The construction of the controlled nuclear fusion experiment ITER, currently underway in Cadarache, Southern France, is one of the largest technoscientific collaborations in the world today
The aim of this article is to unpack the way in which actors and organizations have strived to keep the project together through the work of ‘backstage’ science diplomacy, enacted through reciprocity and compromise in the initial phase of the project
The history of international collaboration on fusion research shows how cooperation has always been entangled with and carried out through diplomatic and political means. As both the scientific and diplomatic character of the collaboration has changed over time, so have the ways that actors have been forced to consider reciprocity and compromise
Summary
The construction of the controlled nuclear fusion experiment ITER (short for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as the Latin word for ‘the way’, as in ‘the way to new energy’), currently underway in Cadarache, Southern France, is one of the largest technoscientific collaborations in the world today. Building a machine such as ITER is, to say the least, a complicated process, where diplomacy, complex management, and negotiation are at the heart of the project This is true for the top-level politicians who sign agreements regarding scientific collaboration on the so called ‘front-stage’, or the State level, of diplomatic action. It is true for the science policy advisors, scientists, engineers, lawyers, economists, and managers working on the project, all the way down to the work site itself where German welders may work under Indian supervision following French nuclear-safety protocols. I argue that while grand gestures and perhaps grand conflict may go on at the front-stage of science diplomacy, on the backstage compromise is necessary in order to make a project like ITER materialize
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