920 



35 



It was pointed out that many of the nongovernmental organizations 

 dealing with social science depend in some measure on UNESCO subvention 

 for their survival. Thus, organizations such as the International Poli- 

 tical Science Association (IPSA) and others might become financially 

 vulnerable and more limited in their substantive activities if their 

 UNESCO support is reduced. But perhaps the most severe financial 

 impact would be felt among the Third World countries (particularly in 

 Africa) where UNESCO support for social science research accounts for a 

 major portion of the work ongoing in those fields. Concerns about 

 "indigenization" not withstanding, the United States would suffer, 

 along with the remainder of the global social science community, if 

 work in these countries were to be diminished through lack of support 

 or if international communication of results were to be reduced. 



The benefits to the U.S. social science community* of membership in 

 UNESCO are both direct and indirect. Direct benefits accrue from the 

 limited number of research projects and research colloquia and symposia 

 in which U.S. scholars participate. Access is gained through these 

 activities both to data and to collegial networks, i.e., "invisible 

 colleges," throughout the world. Through UNESCO colloquia and sympo- 

 sia, scholars are able to exchange ideas, concepts, and theories that 

 ultimately promote the advancement of their disciplines. 



The Social Science Committee of the U.S. National Commission for 

 UNESCO has urged repeatedly that UNESCO develop a more vigorous research 

 program, similar to that which existed shortly after its creation when 

 it sponsored research on international tensions and on racism. The 

 committee has suggested that UNESCO inaugurate a major program on 

 migration, which has important implications both for social science 

 theory and for policy. Expansion or development of such substantive 

 research foci would add directly to the benefits derived by the U.S. 

 social science community. 



U.S. social scientists also derive benefit from several UNESCO pub- 

 lications, including the World List of Social Science Periodicals and 

 the World Directory of Social Science Institutions. It is reported 

 that scholars make use of UNESCO publications in substantive areas such 

 as the impact of new communication technologj.es on education, communi- 

 cations in developing countries, and the status of women. Some scholars 

 apparently also find useful some issues of the UNESCO-edited Journal of 

 International Social Science ,** although there are questions about its 

 overall quality and the cost of its subvention. 



*Thinking in this section benefitted from the ideas of Harold K. 

 Jacobson presented in a statement before the Subcommittee on Human 

 Rights and International Organizations and International Operations 

 of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, 

 April 26, 1984. 



»*It should be noted that the editor of the Journal of International 

 Social Science , Peter Lengyel, resigned recently due to unacceptable 

 constraints imposed by the UNESCO Secretariat. 



