Paper short abstract:

We examine the relevance of SSH-related topics studied by Northern and Southern researchers in collaborative projects and whether they are part of national policy agendas, producing a typology that uncovers power relationships between international research, policy agendas and social needs.

Paper long abstract:

International scientific co-operation involving Southern countries was originally promoted for the most part within the framework of public development aid, which had established a set of topics to be examined for each region. Although the situation has considerably evolved since then, mainly because of the emergence of national research funds and the growth of scientific communities worldwide, Western-based research-funding agencies ("the North", formerly known as "the centre" in a centre-periphery conception) are still holding a hegemonic position.

While agencies select broad topics to work on, mainly based on a strategic analysis of what should be the international agenda, individual participants choose their topics guided by different considerations related to organisational, professional, scientific and relational factors. In order to understand these differentiated positions, we interviewed 50 researchers from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia having participated in international collaborative projects in social sciences and humanities funded by three North-based agencies (European Commission, IFCU and IDRC).

The interviews focus on how relevant are the topics decided upon and whether they are congruent with any national policy agenda or not. Our study uncovers power relationships between research conducted within an international scientific framework, policy agendas and social needs, producing a typology of patterns of relationships among the different actors involved and revealing how these are constructed over time. It shows that even when researchers study issues recognised as social needs by national States, the actual patterns of collaborations, driven by a wide range of factors, make it quite a difficult match.