921 



36 



Indirect benefits of U.S. participation relate to the importance of 

 promoting the worldwide development of the state of the art in global 

 social science research, particularly with respect to the Third World. 

 The argument here rests on the importance of gaining access to data and 

 on the ability to exchange and/or test new ideas, concepts, and theo- 

 ries. It has also been suggested that another indirect benefit of a 

 vigorous social science community within a country is the contribution 

 that many of the disciplines can make on the quality of policy debate. 



Alternatives 



Prospects appear poor for making alternative arrangements for the 

 United States to continue to play a role in UNESCO social science acti- 

 vities while not actually being a part of the organization. Given the 

 limited involvement of the U.S. scholarly community in these programs 

 and the serious methodological questions that have arisen with regard 

 to the "indigenization" of social science research in the Third World, 

 there would appear to be little incentive or justification for utilizing 

 the Funds-in-Trust arrangement. It is conceivable that other UN organ- 

 izations, such as United Nations Institute for Training and Research 

 (UNITAR) , United Nations University (UNU) , United Nations Research 

 Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) , the International Labor 

 Organization (ILO) , the World Bank, or the various UN regional economic 

 commissions (e.g., the Economic Commission for Latin America [ECLA]) 

 might be able to pursue in a very limited way some of the social sci- 

 ence activities of UNESCO.* However, this would require that other 

 countries besides the United States also agree to channel funds through 

 these alternative channels, and it raises the real prospect of serious 

 duplication of effort within the UN system. Many of those interviewed 

 for this study expressed skepticism about this approach. 



Outside of the UN system, the opportunities for cooperation and 

 collaboration in the social sciences are somewhat limited, while 

 virtually all of the disciplines involved have active professional 

 societies, the international arms of these nongovernmental organiza- 

 tions are generally weak and underfunded. In fact, most depend in some 

 measure on UNESCO for subvention. The U.S. Social Science Research 

 Council does maintain active working relationships around the world, 

 and this mechanism could well provide a basis for bilateral research 

 projects under some circumstances. There is also the International 

 Social Science Council and the Inter-University Consortium for Poli- 

 tical and Social Research, both of which historically have been 

 primarily West-West in their orientation but could conceivably be 

 strengthened and expanded to include a Third World component. 



*It is worthy of note that economics is not found under subprogram 

 VI. 4-5. Economics comes into the work of UNESCO under Major Program 

 VIII, which is entitled, "Principles, Methods and Strategies of Action 

 for Development." 



