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It is hard to divorce most human activities, including science, completely from politics. Politics is about perceived certainty whilst science is about doubt – they make strange bedfellows. Politicians detest probabilities whilst scientists abhor the absolute. Nowhere is the relationship between pol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Author: Walton, D.W.H.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1994
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102094000015
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102094000015
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Summary:It is hard to divorce most human activities, including science, completely from politics. Politics is about perceived certainty whilst science is about doubt – they make strange bedfellows. Politicians detest probabilities whilst scientists abhor the absolute. Nowhere is the relationship between politics and science more publicly developed than in the Antarctic Treaty System. In the only continent devoted to peace and science it might be supposed that, after more than thirty years, the role of science would be both more robust and more pivotal in decision-making than elsewhere in the world. So it appears at present but will it remain so?