Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)

KÖNYVTÁR ÉS KORSZERŰSÉG – LIBRARY AND MODERNITY

Comparative research in Europe: The Vienna Centre's experience and prospects for the future Liparit Kiuzadjan European Coordination Centre for Research and Documentation in the Socia! Sciences, Vienna Introduction There is nothing unusual today about international cooperation in the social sciences; there are many organisations and institutes who specialise in international comparative research, and somé have alsó adopted a particular East-West focus. At the time of the foundation of the European Coordination Centre for Research and Documentation in the Social Sciences, however, the situation was entirely different. It was 1963 and the ideological division of Europe was at its zenith. At that time the first and most dangerous phase of post-war division had just ended. Nobody knew how stable the new equilibrium would be. The foundations of the territorial division were ideological differences over the construction of society. There were two main issues: how to regulate the economy and how to deal with the will of the people; or put differently, the crucial questions of the role of markets or central planning, and the question of democracy or autocracy, both core questions for the social sciences. The Vienna Centre was established as a non-governmental organisation. However, the possibility of becoming inter-govemmental was clearly allowed for in its originál statutes; it was underwritten by public money, however dispensed, 150 „ Thoughts in the library "