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A discussion of the state of the social sciences in Ireland, focusing on the disciplines of economics, sociology, & political science. It is noted that many of the associations related to the development of these disciplines span the whole of Ireland, although since 1922, partition has located the two parts of the country in different national identities. The situation of peripherality in relation to European developments is also noted. A brief account is given of the history of these disciplines in Ireland, their relation to society, the development of formal education, & the establishment of major institutes & other bodies to encourage research. A final comment deals with the emergence of professional associations within this small but active social science community. The lack of any state-supported body to support research in the social sciences is stressed. 1 Figure, 2 Appendixes, 14 References. Modified AA

The authors consider identity as the most important source of legitimization of the Kazakhstani statehood. The repertoire of new identities, the construction process of which continues in the Republic of Kazakhstan, includes national identity (that balances between civil and ethno-cultural elements), Turkic pan-identity, Central Asian geopolitical identity, Eurasian civilizational identity and macro-regional Caspian identity. The authors attempt to substantiate the contradiction between the goals and reference points outlined in state documents on identity policy and real trends and landmarks in the continuing process of identity construction in the modern Kazakhstan. The multivector foreign policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan underpins the shaping of competing identities, with the Turkic identity developing most intensively. The growth of socio-political divisions (ethnic, confessional, settlement, etc.) produces a cumulative effect that makes Kazakhstan a "divided society". The article examines the priorities of memory and language policies and reveals personalistic identifiers reflected in mass consciousness. The authors also focus on the contradictory nature of the ongoing identity policy as a challenge to societal security, considering that "split" social spaces may produce explosive conflict situations.

22 páginas ; Este trabajo tiene los siguientes propósitos fundamentales: i) responder a modo de reseña crítica a los planteamientos sobre el objeto de estudio de la ciencia política enunciados en el reciente libro de Rodrigo Losada y Andrés Casas, Enfoques para el análisis político. Historia, epistemología y perspectivas de la ciencia política (2008); ii) hacer un reflexión orientada a captar los reduccionismos existentes en la conceptualización que se hace del objeto de estudio de la ciencia política desde ciertas corrientes contemporáneas, y iii) sugerir la necesidad de ampliar nuestro entendimiento y comprensión de lo que es una realidad política desde el horizonte intelectual fijado por Eric Voegelin, donde se afirma que la ciencia política es una disciplina científica noética centrada sobre el estudio del orden y la experiencia del orden en las sociedades y culturas humanas. El aporte del artículo se refiere a la reconstitución y resignificación de la ciencia política como disciplina científica de carácter noético y a los múltiples campos transdisciplinares que dicha condición posibilita. ; This work has the following fundamental purposes: i) to respond by way of a critical review to the statements on political science's object of study made by Rodrigo Losada and Andrés Casas in their recently published book Enfoques para el análisis político. Historia, epistemología y perspectivas de la ciencia política (Approaches for Political Analysis. History, Epistemology and Perspectives of Political Science, 2008); ii) to reflect on the theoretical reductionism in the conceptualization of the object of study of political science, present in some contemporary schools of thought, and, iii) to suggest the need to expand our understanding of our political reality from the intellectual perspective proposed by Eric Voegelin, who argued that political science is a noetic scientific discipline centered on the study of order and the experience of order in societies and human cultures. The contribu-tion of the article refers to the reconstitution and resignification of political science as a scientific noetic discipline and to the multiple transdisciplinary fields that such a condition makes possible.

Science and Technology in Development Planning: Science, Technology and Global Problems covers the proceedings of the Symposium on Science and Technology Development Planning. The book presents several papers that tackle one of the agendas of the symposium, intended to convey to the reader the main lines of thought brought to the symposium and to illustrate various approaches. The 17 chapters of the text are organized into five parts, according to what agenda they cover. The first part tackles the interaction between science and technology and long-range development goals and strategies, while