AbstractThere is an important shift in international science and technology toward international economic, rather than security, goals in the motivation for support, but little diminution of the strong national basis of decision-making. Resource constraints will increase the attractiveness of cost-sharing through international scientific cooperation, although the economic pressures on governments will limit the number and scale of these projects. By contrast, the opportunities and needs for international scientific cooperation will grow as interdependence advances. However, the virulence of nationalism is more characteristic than the growth of international federalism.