BY: Sayed Alireza Behbahani
PEJOURNAL – According to the Oxford Glossary, science means intellectual and practical activities, including the systematic study of structure and behavior in the physical and natural world through observation and experimentation, and diplomacy, according to the Glossary of Diplomacy, the main means of communication between states and empowering them in relationships.
During the last one or two centuries, very drastic changes have taken place in human life and most of them have been related to the birth of a technology, such as steam engine revolution, communication revolution, globalization, electricity, space conquest, polio vaccine, penicillin and etc. If we want to be credible, technology has penetrated to the point of human life and even played a serious role in the lives of other creatures! From global warming to the observation of animal life and etc., which seems to be meaningless and inconceivable these days without technology.
Advances in technology in some areas have had a direct impact on political equations and global governance, such as space conquest, the invention of the atomic bomb or, more recently, the COVID-19 virus and even the vaccine that is on the way! It can be hidden, and as a result, the most important influence on politics, which is the economy, can be summed up the unique position of science and technology, and therefore, from the author’s point of view, technological development is the heart of sustainable development.
Today, even national security can be related to the development of technology, and the missing link in development in third world countries was not or lack of confidence in the potential of technological development. The first world needs it, and in today’s world there is no pillar more important than the technological gap between countries. A gap that is deepening at a much faster rate than in the past colonialism. Strong measures have been taken to prevent the transfer of technology to our country in order to deprive us of sustainable development.
As a result of this attitude, third world countries surrender to the demands of powerful countries, but the Islamic Republic of Iran is still stable and is conquering new peaks of science. The reason for this mistake in the policy of opponents of Iran’s development, misjudgment and closing all holes for the penetration of technology. The complete isolation of Iran during these years forced it to become self-sufficient in some areas.
The wrong method was adopted in the sanctions against Iran, and in the author’s opinion, if some technologies were provided to Iran, this process of development and growth would never have taken place. The important conclusion of this scenario is that if you want to colonize a country, technology will never be complete and do not boycott its perfection in any field, because the possibility of his return to the international community as a new rival and power is not far from the possibility, and the living example of that is the Islamic Republic of Iran.
It also deserves serious attention that Western countries have a high ability to break down technology and disperse it. Another point is that technology has been and is the tool of domination and colonization in recent centuries, and it is obvious that if it were not for the technological advancement of powerful countries, they would not have been able to dominate the global equations.
The development of technology in recent years has made the world-class countries more dominant and powerful than ever before. Yesterday the development of marine technologies, today the development of satellite technologies has deepened this technology gap between countries. Communication technologies, search engines and social networks, etc. have also greatly contributed to the hegemony of technology-rich countries. Since World War II, and especially the end of the Cold War, international competition has shifted to the economy, and today economic development is not possible except with the development of technology.
After World War II, Germany and Japan pursued a policy of governing without military power, and this did not mean that they withdrew from the sphere of power, and therefore shifted the equations of power to economic power, and that is why. We see that Germany, the first power in Europe, and Japan, along with China, are expanding in Asia.
Today, when the equations of colonialism and the game of power have changed, we must pay serious attention to economic development and economic development will not be possible without technological development. The reason for embracing technology development by sustainable development is nothing but its high added value. This field is becoming more and more attractive to international actors, but this will hardly happen if there is no concept of science and technology diplomacy.
In recent years, Islamic republic of Iran has been able to shift the balance of this literature towards itself and benefit from the position of technology in the service of diplomacy, but an important part of it will soon be its new chapter with the introduction of a new system in the United States and changing global policies.
Behind it comes Iran, a chapter of diplomacy at the disposal of technology that requires both the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran and global actors to practice this literature for face-to-face negotiations. In order for the Iranians to enter the game intelligently and professionally, they must undergo a serious training and the global actors and stakeholders to change their attitude towards the discourse towards Iran! Because Iran today is not comparable to the level of technology even 4 years ago, and if any of the parties ignore these points, they have already lost the game.