No one can deny that our world today is more closely connected than before. Suchinterdependence, thus, gave rise to the growing technical uncertainties and complexities ofissuesthat have made international policy coordination not only increasingly necessary but alsoincreasingly difficult. This trend in tum contributed to the emergence ofwhat Dorothy Nelkinhas called "the policy role ofthe knowledge elite." This can bee seen with the changes in thenumber ofexperts acquired in many governments and intemational organizations. Forinstance,employment of federal scientists and engineers in the Uruted States rose from 185,623 in 1989 to 196,908 in 1993 and t0 209,747 in 2005, Technical responsibilities in intemationalorganizations sucb as the Uniuted Nations (UN) have flourished as well. As of today, many oftheUNs professional staffare employed to serve key functions in all areas ofhuman endeavor frompeace and disarmament to health, nutrition, communications, environment, and so on. As PeterHaas observed, the budgeting offunds in the UN also indicates a shift away from the moretraditional political and security considerations toward the more technical concems ofspecialized agencies.