Politics of Social Research by Ralph L. Beals Alan Woolfolk

Author:Ralph L. Beals, Alan Woolfolk [Ralph L. Beals, Alan Woolfolk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Research, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9781351498241
Google: Tx0uDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-07-12T03:26:40+00:00

Department of State

The Department of State budget for research in the social sciences probably is less than 1 per cent of the total spent by the federal government in this field, if the funds spent by the Agency for International Development (AID) are excluded. For overseas information the department apparently depends almost entirely upon its foreign service officers and its total research budget is only $125,000. This situation disturbed the Fascell committee (Fascell 1966e), particularly in light of Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s emphasis on the importance of research in the determination of foreign policy and his intelligent and perceptive discussion of the problems of overseas behavioral science research before the committee.

Part of the research supported by the Department of State is carried on by its external research staff, but until 1968 a major activity was the compilation of information about studies completed or currently being carried on in university research centers. The reports of the external research staff depended upon voluntary reporting and although spotty and incomplete, probably were the best single source of information about research on or in foreign areas by U.S. scholars. There is little evidence that the academic community makes adequate use of this source of information and the reports have been discontinued.

Despite Secretary Rusk’s statement about the importance of research in the determination of foreign policy, there are serious obstacles to its utilization in the Department of State. Research materials probably should be of most use to the country desk men in Washington. These men are drawn from the foreign service and sometimes have never been in the country for which they are responsible. After two or three years in Washington, they usually are transferred to another post abroad. It takes some time for them to become familiar with desk problems, and adequate machinery for transferring experience from one man to the next has not yet been developed. In addition, the desk men are drawn largely from the humanities and tend to be somewhat hostile toward the social sciences. (See Gabriel Almond’s remarks, p. 72.) Even if they are not, they usually do not have the research experience needed to evaluate, interpret, and utilize research data available. These facts are important not only for the utilization of social science research in the Department of State, but also with respect to the current clearance procedures for government-sponsored overseas research discussed below.

Some members of the Department of State are aware of this situation. Indeed, the above description essentially was given by people in the department. There have been efforts to get social scientists into the department, but with little success. There have been attempts to use social scientists as consultants, both for short-term specific problems and for two- to three-year appointments, again with little success. Even short-term consultants to the Department of State must have full security clearance and few are willing to undergo this onerous and in some respects degrading experience. It is said that only one anthropologist in the United States currently holds clearance.

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