The Swedish initiative and the 1972 Stockholm Conference: the decisive role of science diplomacy in the emergence of global environmental governance

Abstract

This article applies a science diplomacy lens to examine Sweden’s 1967–1968 intervention in the United Nations—the so-called “Swedish initiative”—that led to the seminal 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment. The three classic science diplomacy typologies—science in diplomacy, diplomacy for science and science for diplomacy—are employed to structure an analysis of how Swedish diplomats skillfully leveraged science for diplomatic objectives, first for convincing member states of the need to convene a major environmental conference under UN auspices and then to mobilize scientific research internationally—particularly in developing countries—during the Conference preparatory process. The empirical study, based on archival research and the oral histories of key participants, also brings to light how problems of the human environment were conceived of and shaped by Swedish scientists and diplomats during this embryonic moment of global environmental governance. Through analysis of some of the public pronouncements and key documents drafted during the first phase of the Swedish initiative, the article further considers the role of popular science as a style of science communication that is particularly relevant in the realm of environmental diplomacy.