1028 



U.S. PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL S&T COOPERATION 15 



of sciences and like institutions). ICSU was created in 1931 out of the 

 International Research Council to reflect the growing importance of 

 the scientific unions. Its dual national and scientific membership is 

 unique within the international field. In addition, ICSU has provided 

 an important infrastructure over the ensuing years for nongovern- 

 mental scientific cooperation, including organization of the aforemen- 

 tioned International Geophysical Year (IGY) and its successor pro- 

 grams: in space. Committee on Space Research (COSPAR); the 

 oceans. Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR); Antarc- 

 tica, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR); and the 

 biosphere, International Biological Program (IBP), to name a few. 



The ICSU family of activities represents an important infrastructure 

 for cooperation initiated and conducted directly by the scientific com- 

 munity. The U.S. membership in ICSU is exercised by the National 

 Academy of Sciences (NAS) via a network of U.S. national commit- 

 tees (USNCs) located within the disciplinary units of the NRC and 

 drawing on the participation and cooperation of a wide range of pro- 

 fessional societies. Support for annual membership dues is sought 

 from the federal government, and many of the U.S. contributions to 

 international collaborative research programs occur with government 

 support. ICSU is constrained both by administrative and funding limi- 

 tations and is currently in the process of reexamining its role and func- 

 tions. Nevertheless, its existence serves as an extremely important sci- 

 entific counterbalance to the explicitly political types of bilateral 

 cooperation. 



Besides serving as the host institution for the USNCs of ICSU, the 

 NAS — and its research arm, the National Research Council— also par- 

 ticipate directly in international cooperative S&T activities through 

 agreements with counterpart organizations in other countries. Among 

 the types of agreements that the NAS may initiate are the following: 

 (1) informal agreements with counterpart institutions aimed generally 

 at fostering friendly relations and greater scientific interaction, (2) for- 

 mal exchange agreements with counterpart institutions which are usu- 

 ally negotiated with or through government organizations, (3) agree- 

 ments aimed at strengthening the capabilities of scientific organi- 

 zations in developing countries, and (4) arrangements in which the 

 Academy complex plays a role in government-to-government agree- 

 ments. There are currently academies of science (or corresponding or- 

 ganizations) in over 70 countries, of which 20 are located in industrial- 

 ized nations. 



Mention also must be made in this context of the International Insti- 

 tute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), which was created in 1972 



