1674 



purely rational systems process, but many of the problems confronting 

 •diplomacy (increasingly many, as technology plays more and more of 

 a part) are largely amenable to rational management. 



Although it concerns the sociology of science and technology, rather 

 than science and technology as such, the brain drain problem appears 

 to be one of these. The study presents persuasive evidence that it is 

 indeed a problem, though largely unperceived, and one worth solving 

 or at least mitigating. Its causes, which the study describes in some 

 detail,^®^ may be summarized as a combination of "push" and "pull" 

 factors. The latter are what attract talented immigrants to one or 

 another developed countr}^ and especially the United States: eco- 

 nomic gain, intellectual and cultural stimulus, demand for their 

 services in challenging work, and so on. The former are all the circum- 

 stances which make a talented and educated emigrant from an under- 

 developed country reluctant to return home: lack of adequate pay, 

 work facilities, and professional challenge; cultural prejudice against 

 innovation; political repression . . . and many more. 



REMEDIES FOR THE BRAIN DRAIN PROBLEM 



The study also contains a detailed discussion of remedies,^"^ prefaced 

 by the observation that: 



Virtually every commentary and analysis on brain drain presents a set of 

 ^•emedies, some exceedingly detailed and programmatic, as in the works by 

 UNITAR, Gregory Henderson, Dr. Adams, Dr. Niland, the authors of the 

 CIMT study, the various official materials published by the State Department 

 and the Congress; and others generalized and suggestive. There is an under- 

 standable sameness about the remedies. The problem is universal; the ingredients 

 are fairly uniform; and while remedies may vary from case to case, certain prin- 

 •ciples apply generally."" 



These remedies fall broadly into the following categories: 



(a) diminishing the "push" factors through economic develop- 

 ment of the LDCs; creating scientific/ technological infrastructures 

 within the same countries; building professional manpower 

 resources; estabUshing an educational base in science and tech- 

 nology; encouraging basic research as well as technological appli- 

 cations; improving communications among professionals, and 

 building linkages among government, academic, and economic 

 sectors; developing the scientific spirit; establishing regional 

 ■"centers of excellence" — pooled science and technology resources; 

 and 



(b) at the same time, reducing the "pull" factors. The "pull" 

 factors are less easy to define and generally less central to the 

 ])roblem, but a clear-cut exception exists in the medical brain 

 drain: "A decade ago when the problem was far less acute than 

 it is today, American students of brain drain and development 

 specialists strongly urged the United States to expand its medical 

 school facilities, and to train a suflicient number of doctors to 

 meet present and future manpower demands (the shortage is 

 ■generally placed at about 50,000 doctors). These two actions 

 should go far toward ending American dependence on FMGs from 

 the LDCs." ''' 



2«« See Whelan, Brain Drain, Vol. 11, pp. 1135-U72. 

 289 See ibid., pp. 1254-1266. 

 2« Ibid., p. 1254. 

 271 Ibid., p. 1271. 



