Science Diplomacy in Semi-Peripheral Countries: Trajectories and Approaches from Argentina, Brazil, and India

Progressively, science diplomacy (SD) policies and practices have acquired a strategic nature aiming at solving the complex problems of global governance in the twenty-first century. The debate about its effectiveness as an umbrella concept to include initiatives, policies, and practices in international scientific engagement has been extended to different geographies and various actors besides governments. Yet, the Global South has taken longer to join the process of introducing different approaches to SD. Currently, we observe a rise in the heterogeneity of the countries and perspectives in SD in terms of academic discussions, political and institutional actions, and trajectories. Fortunately, such heterogeneity involves further contributions from the Global South. This work delves into the SD roadmaps of three semi-peripheral countries, Argentina, Brazil, and India, inquiring into their trajectories to identify common features and divergent outlooks in their SD approaches. The purpose of this chapter is to reflect on the dynamics of SD in the relation between the core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral countries, looking at the cases through the lens of world-system theory, considering how science, technology, and innovation (STI) policies and SD instruments fit into these discussions. The analysis results indicate that while semi-peripheral countries exert uncontested regional leadership, their internal contradictions and structural constraints consistently challenge their status as global SD players. Even so, Argentina, Brazil, and India, as semi-peripheral countries, could contribute to improving the interaction with core countries and, additionally, to the development of peripheral ones.