High-tech Europe: the politics of international cooperation

In: Studies in international political economy 24

Abstract

Technology and the state long ago forged bonds of mutual dependence. Each satisfies profound cravings of the other. The state nourishes technology with cash, making possible the grandiose projects that would otherwise be lustful dreams of technologists and engineers. By the same token, technology provides the state with industries, wealth, and tools of defense. In the late twentieth century, though, the relation between technology and the state appears unbalanced: Technology can survive without the modern state, but the reverse may not be true. The harnessing of technology to purposes dictated by nationalism is as old as the manufactories and arsenals of the European monarchies