The military and the social sciences

The launch of the US Minerva programme - a funding scheme for social and cultural sciences to be embedded in and used by the military - in 2008 was accompanied by a well documented controversy on the ethics and legitimacy of social science research in security or military contexts.

• http://essays.ssrc.org/minerva/ a collection of essays by the US Social Science Research Council"The Department of Defense recently announced the creation of the Minerva Research Initiative (PDF), also known as Project Minerva, providing as much as $75 million over five years to support social science research on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security policy. The initiative indicates a renewal of interest in social science findings after a prolonged period of neglect, but it also prompts concerns about the appropriate relationship between university-based research programs and the state, especially when research might become a tool of not only governance but also military violence. The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) has invited prominent scholars to speak to the questions raised by Project Minerva and to address the controversy it has sparked in academic quarters."

• http://minerva.dtic.mil/ homepage of Minerva programme
• Nature's "Pentagon Culture Wars"
  http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081001/full/455583a.html