International Science: Organizations and Associations

Abstract

The formal infrastructure to support and promote international collaboration in the social and behavioral sciences consists of disciplinary-based associations, the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and to a certain extent the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Although international associations dealing with geography, psychology, and international law and ICSU trace their origins to the nineteenth century, the infrastructure is largely a product of the period since World War II. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) played a major role in encouraging the establishment of the infrastructure and supporting it. UNESCO has been ISSC's principal source of financial support. ICSU has always had national members and as a consequence access to funds from national governments. ISSC did not allow national members until 1992 and as of 1999 did not have national members from Japan, North America, or Western Europe. Participation in the associations and their activities has broadened and become more global since the 1950s, and activities sponsored by the infrastructure have increased over time. Despite this, at the dawn of the twenty-first century the infrastructure designed to support the social and behavioral sciences remained weaker than that designed primarily to support the natural sciences and there were fewer international collaborative programs.