شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

This paper attempts to draw a dynamic picture of the components of social science research in Lebanon, in the context of “globalization” of both higher education and research. It is predicated on the premise that social science research and higher education in social sciences are encumbered in Lebanon with what may be termed the “international division of scientific labor”, i.e., none of the components of social science research: institutional structure; cooperation frameworks; conceptual tools and methodology; funding; research priorities; dissemination and use of research results; and language and medium of publication, is controlled by local researchers, except in limited individual cases.The paper addresses two specific determinants of the relationship between social science research and globalization. The first is the position taken in relation to the globalization of social sciences, and, consequently, research within their framework. In some countries “of the South”, there is opposition, even resistance, to globalization, as in India for example. In contrast, in Lebanon, there is submission to the dictates of globalization and the international division of research labor, which militates against formulating elaborated policies of institutional research, and feeds on a prevailing culture that directs education and research towards responding to the needs of the market first and foremost. The second determinant is the way in which the structure of social science research in Lebanon receives “globalization”. Universities and public research institutions, which constitute the research environment, either have been deeply rooted in some form of “globalization” since the outset of higher education in Lebanon in the second half of the nineteenth century, or have entered into foreign partnerships or “cooperation” arrangements that force research to adapt to conditions they generally do not participate in setting.The paper is based on field research carried out within the framework of the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Capacity in the Countries of the Mediterranean (ESTIME) project. It concludes by highlighting the importance of distinguishing between market-oriented research and science-based research which is maintained by a scientific community, and nurtured by academic institutions and private and public research centers that are governed neither by the logic of the market as the determinant of scientific activity, nor to priorities beyond the control of the researchers themselves. (Published Abstract)