It was not called science diplomacy in 1972, but that is what it was. The creation of IIASA – the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis – in an aging former Habsburg palace in Laxenburg, Austria, donated by the Austrian Government, was science diplomacy in action. It was a US initiative to use the emerging discipline of systems analysis as a medium for peaceful engagement with the Soviet Union, even at the time when thousands of nuclear weapons on each side threatened both nations with instant destruction. It was the MAD era – when both sides relied on the doctrine of mutual assured destruction to keep themselves safe.
It had taken six years to get final agreement to establish IIASA – not just from the US and USSR, but also from the 10 other Western and East Bloc countries that were the original members. McGeorge Bundy, national security advisor to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, led the effort for the US, and Jermen Gvishiani, son-in-law of Prime Minister Kosygin and deputy director of the top Soviet science policy body – the State Committee on Science and Technology – carried the ball for the Soviets. The first Director of IIASA, Harvard Business School Professor Howard Raiffa (now emeritus), has posted a fascinating history of the startup on the IIASA Web site. There have also been stormy moments in IIASA’s 38 years; membership peaked at 18 countries, but it was a remarkably successful instrument of science engagement between East and West. The research tackled the large global issues of concern to both East and West such as energy, population, climate change, etc. The results have been widely acclaimed.
