When the Institute was established in 1948, its architects, following the models of Oxford, Cambridge and in particular London University, conceived that it would play a major role in advancing the thinking and research on social and economic issues in the Caribbean. This same model was used at the University of Nigeria for the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER); at the then regional University of East Africa and at the Indian Institute of Economics in New Delhi.
 

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), located on the Mona Campus was originally funded by a Colonial Development and Welfare grant provided by the British Government. It preceded the establishment of the faculty of Social Sciences by twelve years. The advantages of this planned sequence were far reaching. By the time the Faculty commenced its teaching programme in 1962, there was a relevant body of research on the Caribbean to draw upon.
 
 
 

The Pioneers

The early researchers under the first director, Dr. Dudley Huggins, a native of St. Kitts-Nevis, placed their intellectual stamp on the ISER's mission. Lloyd Brathwaite, M.G. Smith and R.T. Smith focussed on developing models of Caribbean society. Their work on social stratification and the debates that have ensued out of M.G. Smith's Plural Society Model have continued to challenge scholars and others working in the Social Sciences and engaged in social action.
 

While the two Smiths went on to distinguish themselves as Professors at Yale and Chicago, respectively, Lloyd Brathwaite was to receive the first appointment to the Chair of Sociology at the UWI in 1966. His contribution to the development of the Department of Sociology and the intellectual leadership that he gave to the influx of Caribbean scholars and students, especially with the establishment of the Faculty of Social Sciences UWI (Mona) in 1962, is highly acclaimed.
 
 

The work of the early ISER economists was no less profound. Two economists from the UK, George Cumper and David Edwards, and subsequently William Demas of Trinidad and Tobago, developed approaches and interpretations of the region's economies that undoubtedly provided the foundations of Caribbean Economic Thought.
 

William Demas,  produced a seminal study on The Economies of Small States   while Edwards produced The Economic Study of Small farming in Jamaica both ofwhich continue to provoke endless debate on the structure and performance of the Caribbean in the world economy. While both Cumper and Edwards became absorbed in the teaching programme in the Department of Economics at UWI, Demas was to distinguish himself as one of the leading Caribbean policy-makers, first as Secretary-General of The Caribbean Common Market, CARICOM, and then as President of the Caribbean Development Bank 1974 - 87.
 

Demas, Edwards and Cumper set the context which a new generation of economists was to find fertile and expansive. Lloyd Best, a Trinidad and Tobago scholar came to the ISER, Mona, in 1961. He, together with Kari Levitt, was to set up a paradigm on the Plantation Economic Systems which has inspired the thinking and writings of-scholars and students in the Social Sciences. These included C.Y. Thomas a Guyanese who arrived at Mona from University College London in 1961 as a Junior Research Fellow. He was shortly joined by Havelock Brewster another Guyanese, now attached to UNCTAD. They were to jointly write a seminal work on the Dynamics of Economic Integration in the mid-sixties.
 

Together with Thomas, Brewster and a group of bright, young and energetic scholars, Lloyd Best launched the famous New World Group, which stimulated the creative thinking of Caribbean development issues. Its New World Quarterly, a journal published between 1961 and 1940, is testimony to its importance. Among the topics that recurred, regional integration and the persistence of economic dependence were among the most prominent. Written in a popular style, the analysis in the New World Quarterly comple- mented the research being undertaken within ISER. It also stimulated public debate on a variety of issues across the Caribbean and at other centres in Canada, the USA and the UK where its ideas reached migrant and student populations.
 

Also associated with the Institute in the early period prior to the development of the Faculty of Social Sciences, was Roy Augier, a historian from St. Lucia who came to Mona after completing his doctorate at St. Andrew University in Scotland. He was interested in the political and con- stitutional history of the Caribbean which added another dimension to the Institute's work. In the early 1960s, Roy Augier, along with M.G. Smith and Rex Nettleford who was now Director of Extra Mural Studies; produced a report on the Rastafarians in Jamaica. It is still recognized as a pioneering effort which stimulated further research in this area and indeed, a better understanding of the role and development of Rastafarianism in Caribbean society. A member of the Department of History since 1956, Roy Augier was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor, Academic Affairs, of the University of the West Indies in 1976. He also succeeded the late Vice-Chancellor, Aston Preston, as Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council, CXC, in 1985.
 

From its inception much emphasis was placed on the Institute's role in the compilation and analysis of empirical data. Among the functions performed by early staff, a statistical section was clearly defined with Roy Chang and Nora Siffleet (now Mailer) as Statistical Officers. It was Nora Mailer who was originally assigned to develop national income statistics for the Eastern Caribbean in the mid-1950s. It was not until the Eastern Caribbean Branch of the ISER was set up during the period when Sir Arthur Lewis was Vice-Chancellor, that relatively more resources became available for developing work on National Accounts.
 

In this respect Carleen O'Loughlin's work in the Eastern Caribbean in the 1960s became a landmark. It created the basis for ISER's involvement in the development planning for the Windward and Leeward islands. This involvement was to be continued much later by the statisticians and demo- graphers attached to the Institute, in particular Jack Harewood, who was Associate Director of ISER St. Augustine (1969 - 84), Norma Abdulah also of ISER St. Augustine, and Eric Armstrong, Deputy Director ISER, Cave Hill 1969 - 74.
 

Another associate whose work was to have a profound impact on the region was George Roberts. An Antiguan by birth, he pioneered the early work in demography. Not only was he associated with the 1960 Census, he was also responsible for the organisation and execution of the 1970 Census. Through his leadership, demography became an essential feature within the Department of Sociology in the 1970s and early 1980s. Many of the region's statistical offices are today staffed by former students of George Roberts who advanced to the rank of Professor in 1976. One of his proteges and junior collaborators, Dr. Joycelin Byrne (now Massiah) is head of the ISER, Cave Hill and continues the tradition of insightful work on population and devel- opment in the Caribbean.
 

The early research fellows of the Institute, not only developed an academic agenda, but in every case went on to distinguish themselves in various fields. They gave the Institute a visibility and a respectable profile through their research, teaching and influence on policy making.

In the 1950s the regular seminars put on by the ISER, mostly in the office of the Director, brought together leading figures from the planning agencies, monetary authorities and office of the Financial Secretary in Jamaica. Among those who attended these seminars regularly were G. Arthur Brown and Don Mills who at the time were civil servants in the Planning Office in Jamaica. Arthur Brown was in time to become Director of the Planning Unit, Governor of the Bank of Jamaica and, more recently, Deputy Administrator, UNDP and Chairman of the UWI Campus Council (Jamaica). Don Mills, now an Honorary Research Fellow of the Institute, served Jamaica in several senior positions including Director of Planning in the 1960s and Jamaican Ambassador to the UN in the 1970s.

The Journal

Very early in its existence the Institute established a quarterly journal, Social and Economic Studies. Its first issue was in March 1953 which included articles by Dudley Huggins on Employment, Economic Development and Incentive Financing in Jamaica; George Cumper on Labour Productivity and Capital-Labour Ratios in Jamaican Manufacttcring Industry; R.T. Smith on Aspects of Family Organization in a Coastal Community in British Guiana; and L. Broom on Urban Research in the British Caribbean.
 

There is evidence to suggest that this journal which has since become the ISER flagship, was inspired as much by the intellectual ferment within the Institute at the time, as by the willingness of the then Director 'to take his chances'. There was apparently no approved budget for the first issue, or, for that matter any subsequent one. Yet the need and demand for such a quality publication was to justify the gamble, as it were, in 1953.
 

Since that time the journal has covered an extensive range of topics, both theoretical and applied in scope, and has addressed some of the most critical issues preoccupying scholars and policy makers. Listed among the contributors to the journal are such distinguished international scholars as Sir Arthur Lewis, Kari Levitt, Rawle Farley, Stephen Milne, Sidney Mintz, Osvaldo Sunkel, and Archie Singham. Also listed is Edward Seaga, Prime Minister of Jamaica 1980 - 88 whose article onParent Teacher Relationships in a Jamaican Village was carried in Vol. 4 No. 4 December 1955.

Among the numerous issues of this journal, Volume 38 June 1989 is a special supplement to commemorate the Institute's 40th Anniversary Year. Fittingly, it is a tribute to Alister McIntyre. This special issue of the journal is a recognition of the contribution of Alister McIntyre, now Vice-Chancellor of the UWI, to the development of the ISER in particular and to the region as a whole.

The McIntyre Era

In 1962 Dudley Huggins went to the newly established campus of UWI at St. Augustine as Acting Principal while Lloyd Brathwaite was appointed to act as Director of the Institute. Huggins was subsequently appointed first Principal of the St. Augustine Campus in 1966. Lloyd Brathwaite who was appointed Professor of Sociology in 1966, succeeded Dudley Huggins as Principal of the UWI St. Augustine Campus in 1968, while Alister McIntyre was appointed Director of the Institute in 1966.

McIntyre, who came to the post with a distinguished academic career at the London School of Economics and at Oxford University, has written extensively on economic integration and on economic growth and development. He demonstrated immense skill as a leader when very early in his career he assumed the position of Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Co-ordinator of the Faculty of Social Sciences at St. Augustine. During his tenure at the ISER between 1969 and 1974, he presided over the development of the ISER, Cave Hill which was established in 1959 and the creation of a new branch of the Institute at St. Augustine in 1968.

It is in the period of McIntyre's leadership that ISER expanded its research staff on all three Campuses increasing the overall number from six researchers to 11. This new wave of recruiting brought young researchers into the Institute's programme which was also becoming more diverse.
 

Regional Programme of Monetary Studies

In 1968 the Regional Programme of Monetary Studies was established as a joint research venture between the ISER and the Central Banks and Monetary Authorities in the region. The Programme, which will be celebrating its 21st Anniversary at the 21st Annual Conference to be held in Guyana in 1989, was expanded to include economists at the University of Guyana, in particular, at the Institute of Development Studies.
 

It has made a great impact on the region so far by focusing on critical monetary issues, and by providing a training ground for the region's Central and Commercial Bankers, several of whom have received their Masters or Doctorates while attached to the Programme. Quite a few have distinguished themselves as outstanding scholars and practitioners. Among these are Professor Compton Bourne, Head of the Department of Economics, UWI St. Augustine; Dr. Delisle Worrell, Deputy Governor, Bank of Barbados; Dr. Maurice Odle, Assistant Director, United Nations Centre for Transnational Corporations; Professor C.Y. Thomas, Director, Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana, who was also the first Co-ordinator of the Programme.
 

In this period, too, the Institute opened up its facilities to the Teaching Faculty. Through a grant from the Ford Foundation, it was able to provide Supernumerary Fellowships to allow for release time and for publications. The monographs and working papers expanded rapidly. This policy yielded some of the most creative scholarship in the form of monographs including George Beckford's Persistent Poverty, now in its third edition; Owen Jefferson's The Post-War Economic Development of Jamaica, Norman Girvan's Foreign Capital and Economic Underdevelopment in Jamaica, and Trevor Munroe's The Politics of Constitutional Decolonizution in Jamaica 1944 - 62.
 

The Institute actually became a revolving door to the Faculty of Social Sciences, recruiting bright, young scholars as Research Fellows who would eventually move into teaching positions. At the same time it co-opted faculty from the teaching departments into its on-going research programmes. It facilitated also the West Indianization of the Social Science staff without prejudice to academic standards.
 

Among the recruits who came into the Institute under McIntyre was Edwin Carrington who, in 1985, became the first West Indian to be appointed Secretary-General of the Association of African, Caribbean and Pacific States; Vishnu Persaud who became Director of the Economic Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat; Vaughan Lewis, after succeeding McIntyre as Director in 1976, became Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States in 1982 and Edward Greene, who succeeded Vaughan Lewis as Director of the Institute in 1985, was appointed at the level of Pro-Vice-Chancellor within the UWI in 1988.
 

McIntyre set an agenda on which Lewis and Greene were to build the Institute.

The Contemporary Era

By the time Mclntyre left the Institute and the UWI in 1974 to take up an appointment as Secretary General of the CARICOM, the ISER on all three campuses had developed a reputation for solid scholarship. At Cave Hill, ISER's role in providing technical assistance to the small Windward/Leeward islands was well recognized, especially through the work on National Income Accounts by Carleen O'Loughlin, Eric Armstrong in Statistics, Vishnu Persaud in Agricultural Economics and Vaughan Lewis on Small States in the International Arena.
 

In St. Augustine, the work of Jack Harewood and Norma Abdulah in population and fertility was also well established. At Mona, in addition to a vibrant economic team, a new wave of behavioral studies had been introduced through the work of Carl Stone on Jamaica and Eddie Greene on Guyana. In this context, Carl Stone, Professor of Political Sociology, has advanced the techniques and scientific value of public opinion polling in Jamaica, an activity which is also gaining prominence elsewhere in the Caribbean, especially through the work of Patrick Emmanuel, ISER (Cave Hill), and Selwyn Ryan ISER (St. Augustine).
 

By 1976, when Vaughan Lewis was confirmed as Director of the Institute, several conditions prevailed which offered severe challenges for the Institute. Indeed, an evaluation of the Institute by the international team of scholars sponsored by the Ford Foundation best illustrate the problems of and prospects for the Institute in the mid-1970s.
 

The report argued that: -

the lack of financing of the Social Sciences at UWI was a major barrier to sustained change and improvement

ISER must develop a documentation Centre, build up computer resources and expand its publications

research endeavours of a multi-disciplinary nature must be developed

ISER should take responsibility for co-ordinating graduate education (in whole/or part) for the Faculty of Social Sciences
 

What the evaluation team did not anticipate was the rapidly declining economic fortunes of Jamaica between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s. In addition, the discussions on the restructuring of the UWI, intensified in the early 1980s. It resulted in the devolution of authority across the three campuses. From 1984, the financial arrangement for the university was changed, making in principle, each campus the responsibility of the government in which territory it was located. This was also accompanied by changes in the form of governance. While ultimate decision making is still retained by the University Council, responsibility for the policy on each Campus devolved from the respective Campus Council.
 

In an effort to retain the regional character of the University certain functions including decisions over senior appointments, common degree procedures and programmes were identified as Centre or Cross-Campus activities, the ISER was designated as a Centre activity. This meant that while the other departments of the Faculty of Social Sciences followed the general pattern of restructuring and were under the jurisdiction of the ampus Council and the campus budgets, the Institute was not.
 

The uncertainty, which still prevails, concerning adequate and sustained funding for Centre as opposed to Campus activity affected the Institute, particularly between 1984 - 85. Owing to budgetary constraints affecting the University as a whole, ISER, during this period, suffered from the contraction of funding which resulted in the reduction of its core-research staff by approximately half of its 1976 level. As a result new and creative ways have had to be found to sustain the activities of the Institute.

Creative Strategies

From the mid-1970s the Institute had adopted a policy of generating fairly large-scale regional projects. These provided for a pool of researchers across the various disciplines, some of which were outside the Social Sciences. Projects such as the Caribbean Technology Policy Studies, Caribbean Public Enterprises, Man and the Biosphere, Human Resources in the Caribbean, Women in the Caribbean, The Impaet of Bauxite on Rural Jamaica, Population, Mobility and Development lasted between three to seven years and employed at least six, and up to as many as 20 researchers each.

It was these types of projects, funded by external sources that sustained the Institute throughout this period. Some of these projects, like Technology and Public Enterprise, were jointly sponsored with the Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana. The heightened research activity due to large regional projects generated a wealth of reports, monographs, working papers and journal articles which in turn are reflected in the expansion of the Institute's publications.

It was in this period too that the ideas emerged for the establishment of a Documentation and Data Centre and a Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences. In 1984, after several years of preparatory work the Documentation and Data Centre was officially launched by Dr. Dennis Irvine, then Director of Science and Technology in the UNESCO Regional Office for the Caribbean. It is also significant that the Centre was the first on-line information system on the Mona Campus and serves the research staff of the Institute, members of the teaching Faculty, policy makers and
practitioners as well as graduate students.

The Institute has elsewhere recorded its appreciation to Ms. Reive Robb, the Documentalist who implemented the ideas and pioneered its organisation and establishment. It is fitting here, to acknowledge our appreciation to the Main Library, UWI Mona, for seconding her to the ISER for an extended period 1979 - 84 to accomplish this task.
 

Another very significant venture was to be launched in 1985 - - the Consortium Graduate School of Social Sciences. It was essentially an outgrowth of the mandate that ISER was charged with by the 1975 Ford Evaluation Report. After five years of intensive discussion the Consortium was established in 1985 at the Mona Campus as part of a multi-campus, multi- disciplinary program me which is jointly sponsored by the University of the West Indies and University of Guyana. It has attracted candidates from across the Caribbean.

Its very first Director, R.T. Smith, was also a foundation Research Fellow of ISER. It is interesting to note that its current Director, Norman Girvan, was one of the members of the first class of graduates in Economics from the UWI. This class also included other prominent ISER personnel, Dr. Joycelin Massiah and the late Dr. Adlith Brown. What is also significant is that the establishment of the school was to a large part due to the sponsorship of ISER and the activism of past and present members and Associates of the Institute.
 

The inaugural meeting (held in Barbados, January 1980) which proposed the setting up of the Consortium was attended by Professors Lloyd Brathwaite, M.G. Smith, R.T. Smith, who was rapporteur; Dr. Vaughan Lewis, then Director of the Institute and Edward Greene who was Chairman of the Interim Committee 1981 - 85 as well as Interim Director of the Consortium (1985).
 

The expansion of its publications, the development of an on-line documentation and data Centre and the establishment of the Consortium can all be attributed to the emphasis that ISER has placed on its information and dissemination programmes as well as on creating linkages between research and training. Emerging out of the Institute's programme of work is a recent University wide project on Women's Studies. The original research agenda on which much of this new programme is based was done under the leadership of Dr. Joycelin Massiah, who succeeded Vaughan Lewis as Head of ISER, Cave Hill. The Women Studies Project not only generated a wide ranging set of research findings but also disseminated these findings through a variety of media: books, working papers, seminars and video.
 

One of the novel features of its dissemination was the involvement of those who were the objects of its field work - the women and men in the villages and communities - as well as policy-makers throughout the Caribbean. This formed the model for some of the projects which followed, notably the study of The Informal Transportation System done by Dr. Patricia Anderson in Jamaica and a study of The Informal Sector in Jamaica co-ordinated by Dr. Michael Witter. At St. Augustine too, a study of Carnival was done in the mid 1980s and co-ordinated by notable Caribbean writer Errol Hill.
 

Through a series of seminars these projects brought together a cross- section of the population who are normally studied but seldom involved in the discussion of the research results.