1st Edition

Space Policy in Developing Countries The Search for Security and Development on the Final Frontier

By Robert Harding Copyright 2013
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book analyses the rationale and history of space programs in countries of the developing world.

    Space was at one time the sole domain of the wealthiest developed countries. However, the last couple of decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century have witnessed the number of countries with state-supported space programs blossom. Today, no less than twenty-five developing states, including the rapidly emerging economic powers of Brazil (seventh-largest), China (second-largest), and India (fourth-largest), possess active national space programs with already proven independent launch capability or concrete plans to achieve it soon.

    This work places these programs within the context of international relations theory and foreign policy analysis. The author categorizes each space program into tiers of development based not only on the level of technology utilised, but on how each fits within the country’s overall national security and/or development policies. The text also places these programs into an historical context, which enables the author to demonstrate the logical thread of continuity in the political rationale for space capabilities generally.

    This book will be of much interest to students of space power and politics, development studies, strategic studies and international relations in general.

    Preface.  Introduction: Space Power as National Power  1. Space Power and the Modern State  2. The Evolution of National Space Policies  3. First Tier Space Powers (Launching BRICs into Space)  4. Second Tier Space Powers  5. Third Tier Space Powers.  Conclusions: Space Policy in Developing Countries

    Biography

    Robert C. Harding is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, at Valdosta University, GA, USA. His principal research interests are space policy, international security, and Latin American politics. He is the author of Military Foundations of Panamanian Politics (2001), The History of Panama (2006), and many scholarly articles in a number of refereed journals, including Air & Space Power Journal.

    ‘The many strengths of Space Policy in Developing Countries include the thoroughness of the research and the easy readability of Professor Harding’s prose [...] Space Policy in Developing Countries is an excellent and timely introduction to a fast changing field.’ Dr. Scott Shackelford, Indiana University, in e-International Relations