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154 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL COOPERATION 



recognize clearly that many aspects of GARP were unique to their time 

 and are unlikely to be repeated. GARP arose in the postwar, post- 

 Sputnik era when a unique convergence of scientific optimism, 

 technological opportunities and Cold War tensions obtained. The 

 linkages between nations, including those in science, had been disrupted 

 by war, and there was a widespread yearning to reestablish them. The 

 desire to penetrate the Iron Curtain led to strong and continuing political 

 support for the program in the United States. This strong political sup- 

 port was reiterated time and time again not only by the nations as- 

 sembled in the WMO but also by each successive U.S. president. This 

 continued backing, and — even more remarkably — the continuing provi- 

 sion of funds by successive U.S. congresses, may dem.onstrate a fairly 

 stable constituency for international cooperative scientific activities. 



Other factors that contributed to the success of GARP are to some ex- 

 tent unique to the atmospheric sciences. As we have noted above, 

 meteorology has an unequaled history of effective international col- 

 laboration. Moreover, most individual meteorologists have at one time 

 or another performed the exercise of plotting data from around the 

 world on a world map in order to develop analyses and forecasts. In this 

 process, they are vividly reminded that none of their work would be 

 possible without the cooperation of thousands of meteorologists and 

 technicians in all countries of the world. Thus, meteorologists are 

 preconditioned to take for granted the necessity of and the feasibility of 

 worldwide cooperation toward common goals. Reflecting the nature of 

 the discipline and the psychology of its practitioners, WMO is generally 

 recognized to be the most efficient and least political of the UN special- 

 ized agencies and is served by an exceptionally capable Secretariat. 

 Thus, international activities in the atmosphere can lean upon a unique 

 sociological and institutional infrastructure possessed by no other disci- 

 pline.'^ 



Other factors underlying the success of GARP, however, may be 

 more widely applicable to programs in other fields. 



A distinctive feature of GARP was its implementation through a 

 novel partnership between an intergovernmental organization, the 

 WMO, and a nongovernmental organization, ICSU. Each type of inter- 

 national mechanism has distinct assets and liabilities. Governments levy 

 taxes, control access to their territories, protect the security and welfare 

 of their citizens, and — somewhere in the lower reaches of their list of 

 priorities — provide most of the resources to support basic science; it is 

 hard to do anything concrete in the real world of science without bring- 

 ing in governments. Bringing in governments, however, inescapably 

 brings in foreign ministries, national politics, territorial squabbles, and a 



