The ways and means of ITER: reciprocity and compromise in fusion science diplomacy
Journal article, 2021

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.

ITER

big science

reciprocity

compromise

science diplomacy

Fusion

Author

Anna Åberg

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Science, Technology and Society

History and Technology

0734-1512 (ISSN) 1477-2620 (eISSN)

Vol. 37 1 106-124

Inventing a Shared Science Diplomacy for Europe (InsSciDE)

European Commission (EC) (EC/H2020/770523), 2017-12-01 -- 2021-11-30.

Subject Categories

Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

History of Technology

Other Physics Topics

DOI

10.1080/07341512.2021.1891851

More information

Latest update

2/25/2022