Contemporary scholarship concerning science diplomacy is increasingly taking a historical approach. In our introduction to this special issue, we argue that this approach promises insight into science diplomacy because of the tools historians of science bring to their work. In particular, we observe that not only are historians of science currently poised to chart the diplomatic aspects involved in the transnational circulation of technoscientific knowledge, materials, and expertise. They are ready to bring critical global analysis to an important phenomenon that has too often been treated as a benign diplomacy device deployed by the Global North without equal reference to the Global South. Through cases discussed in the articles of the special issue, however, we see that historically, in the Global South as well as the Global North, science diplomacy has often functioned to mediate the circulation of technoscientific knowledge and materials, and its historical study helps to better illuminate the resulting knowledge‐power nexus.

中文翻译：

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科学外交​​的全球视角：探索当代科学历史中的外交知识纽带

关于科学外交的当代奖学金越来越多地采用历史方法。在我们对这个特殊问题的介绍中，我们认为，由于科学史学家将其带入工作中，因此该方法有望深入了解科学外交。特别是，我们观察到，当前不仅科学史学家准备绘制涉及技术科学知识，材料和专业知识跨国流通的外交方面的图表。他们准备对重要的现象进行批判性的全球分析，而这一现象通常被视为由北方国家部署的良性外交手段，而没有平等地参考南方南方。但是，通过本期特刊文章中讨论的案例，我们可以看到，从历史上看，在全球南方和全球北方，