Examining the formulation of American public policies on scientific and technological issues, Barke poses and answers three questions: How do scientific issues become matters of public concern and debate? How is scientific information used in policymaking? and How does the public sector manage scientific endeavors? He uses a general framework of four types of constraints to explore the characteristics of science and technology policies. He applies the framework to Congress, the President and the Executive Office, the bureaucracy, the courts, the public, and scientists as participants in the science and technology process, and discusses the powers, limitations, and interactions with other participants. The author also assesses proposed reforms, and includes case studies covering legislation on hazardous wastes and the Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in l988. ISBN 0-87187-394-X: $10.95.

Life in the last quarter of the twentieth century presents a baffling array of complex issues. The benefits of technology are arrayed against the risks and hazards of those same technological marvels (frequently, though not always, arising as side effects or by-products). This confrontation poses very difficult choices for individuals as well as for those charged with making public policy. Some of the most challenging of these issues result because of the ability of technological innovation and deployment to outpace the capacity of institutions to assess and evaluate implications. In many areas, the rate of technological advance has now far outstripped the capabilities of institutional monitoring and control. While there are many instances in which technological advance occurs without adverse consequences (and in fact, yields tremendous benefits), frequently the advent of a major innovation brings a wide array of unforeseen and (to some) undesirable effects. This problem is exacerbated as the interval between the initial development of a technology and its deployment is shortened, since the opportunity for cautious appraisal is decreased.

Issues involving science, technology, and health (STH) have moved to the forefront of the international diplomatic agenda. Other vital issues linked to technological developments pervade longer-range foreign policy concerns. Thus, STH considerations are often central to the Department of State's bilateral and multilateral interactions with other governments. STH aspects play a large role in discussions of such critical topics as nuclear nonproliferation, use of outer space, population growth, adequate and safe food supply, climate change, infectious diseases, energy resources, and competitiveness of industrial technologies. In addressing these issues, expert STH knowledge is essential to the anticipation and resolution of problems and to the achievement of foreign policy goals. The Department, recognizing that it requires strengthened capabilities to address such an array of topics, asked for suggestions by the National Research Council as to how it could better deal with foreign policy issues with STH content.