Military Funding of University Research

Vera Kistiakowsky

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1989, vol. 502, issue 1, 141-154

Abstract: Since the mission of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the purposes of the universities do not coincide, the question whether this is pragmatically important is examined. Relevant events in recent history are mentioned, and the reasons given in support of DoD funding of university research are summarized. Five consequences of such support are then discussed: distortion of the balance between research fields, change of emphasis within research fields, classification and other restrictions, consequences for graduate students, and political consequences. Social responsibility for the end use of research is then considered, and it is suggested that social responsibility should become an important university criterion of excellence. The article concludes that the negative consequences of DoD funding far outweigh its perceived benefits, and suggests that the universities should work to establish a strong civilian base of research funding instead of lobbying for DoD support.

Date: 1989
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716289502001011 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:502:y:1989:i:1:p:141-154

DOI: 10.1177/0002716289502001011

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().