1148 



ful and pervasive force, is the erosion of national loyalties that eases 

 transition to life in a new land. 



Various elements contribute to the erosion of national loyalties. The 

 universality of science usually creates a binding sense of brotherhood 

 am'ong like-minded world scientists. From this unique relationship 

 there often develops a kind of transcendent loyalty that eases com- 

 munication and interaction, and creates conditions for developing 

 larger and more universal values than those restricted to national 

 frontiers. Saleh Ambah of Saudi Arabia's College of Petroleum and 

 Minerals explained : "The higher an individual moves in the technical 

 and professional scale, the greater his mobility and the less the differ- 

 ences which are attributable to national culture." ^^^ 



Expatriation frequently comes with long exposure to other lands 

 and cultures, especially among foreign students who come to advanced 

 countries at a young age and after a period of time find their sense of 

 national loyalty substantially diluted. Reflection on conditions and 

 career possibilities at home can provide the necessary "push" to effect 

 the final break. For Christian Arabs who admire Western culture, 

 such transitions are not difficult. Nor is it difficult for students in 

 Britain from the Commonwealth LDCs as well as from more prosper- 

 ous Australia, New Zealand, and Canada to transfer loyalties in re- 

 sponse to the sociological and cultural attractions of the "mother coun- 

 try" that overcome loyalty to their native country.^^^ Then there are 

 those like the "too many trained" Cameroonians who, in the words of 

 the UNITAR study, "lack a strong sense of nationalism and respon- 

 sibility toward the development of the country" and find changing 

 allegiance to France or some other advanced country no great wrench- 

 ing experienced^* 



^'■PulV Factors in Brain Drain 



"Pull" factors are the converse of "push" factors : combined, they 

 stimulate brain drain. The "pull" factors, like those providing* the 

 "push" of migration, lend themselves to the convenient economic, 

 cultural and intellectual, social, and political categories. 



ECONOMIC factors: vitality or TIIE AMERICAN ECONOMY 



By far the most powerful "pull" factor is the economic strength of 

 the advanced receiving countries, particularly the United States. 

 America's scientific-technological civilization, the main source of its 

 economic prowess, attracts talented if less affluent professionals from 

 abroad. 



The growth of American power in the decades since the close of 

 World War II has been phenomenal. The principal base for this power 

 was the Nation's economic vitality. Economic growth was the natural 

 result of a combination of favorable conditions existing in the United 

 States: an abundance of resources, human and material; mastery of 

 advanced techniques of production, distribution and marketing; com- 

 mitment to universal education ; and possession of a national and his- 



!"« Saleh Ambah, "The Role of the College of Petroleum and Minerals In the Industrial- 

 ization of Saudi Arabia," Tn Nader and Zahlan, op. clt., p. 253. 

 *" Mvint, op. clt. p. 237. 

 =f™ UNITAR, Brain Drain From Five LDCs, 1971, p. 122. 



