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Madam Minister of Foreign Affairs, President of the Academy of Sciences, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to be with you at the Second European Social Science Conference, renewing links and taking stock of all that has happened since the first Conference in Santander seven years ago. Over the next three days, you will address some of the most pressing issues concerning the future of the social sciences in Europe. You will discuss social science co-operation and co-ordination. You will debate a new European research agenda focused on themes such as the social impact of ecological problems, the monitoring of social problems, the strengthening of democracy and Europe’s role in global society. You will also develop strategies to ensure the commitment of political bodies to support the implementation of such a research agenda. Underlying all these topics is a concern of utmost importance for the future of humanity: a concern intimately related to UNESCO's mission: Europe's role in better global caring and sharing, in building a global participatory democracy, in shifting from imposition, force and violence to a culture of tolerance, dialogue and peace. A Europe of peoples, living together in cultural diversity, guided by the universal democratic principles enshrined in UNESCO’s Constitution, is a strong Europe: a Europe which reaches beyond its borders. The Europe which is built around a coin is an economic community but not a visionary one. Ours is a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. We struggle to come to terms with the magnitude and the speed of the large-scale transformations which are features of globalization. This is a partial, asymmetric process with few globalizers and many globalized. Globalization is based on markets and trade, on telecommunications. If we look at the real terms of the commercial transactions, if we realize that the telecommunications networks reach only a limited segment of the globe and that many villages do not yet have electricity, then we may conclude that markets cannot guide us: markets are to be guided by supreme and universal values. Globally-acting corporations and transnational financial institutions must proceed according to codes of conduct that could prevent money laundering linked to drugs or armament trafficking. In the face of the multitude of problems induced by this kind of globalization - the growing contradiction between wealth and impoverishment, social marginalization, the commodification of culture, xenophobia, exclusion, poverty, misery and violence - the universal ideals of democracy and human rights have a special role to play. They form the foundation of a culture of peace and tolerance which, in our culturally diverse and "globalized" world, has become an absolute necessity. Europe must demonstrate the viability of the modern vision of human rights and democracy. Europe can show the world that its "lights", its immense cultural diversity, its vision are still alive, that the ideals of liberty, justice, equality and solidarity do constitute the basis for a culture of peace and tolerance, and that these can counterbalance the trends of uniformization, of disenchantment, of distrust and injustice. Economic "miracles" can turn out to be bubbles that burst. But if the social fabric remains cohesive, if good governance is strengthened through far-reaching and systematic representation and consultation, through respect for the individual and for transparent processes of administration, then economic development will take place in harmony with communities and their values. This is true for every society and no less so for societies in transition. In Central and Eastern Europe, no one could have accurately predicted the immense social transformations we have been witnessing since the momentous events in 1989. Only slowly are we beginning to understand their political, economic, social and cultural implications. The transition of Eastern and Central European countries to democracy has paved the way for the political and economic integration of a vast space stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals, from the Arctic Ocean to the Mediterranean. However, the political and economic transitions of post-communist societies have been accompanied by new financial and social problems and by problems of security. In some cases, transition is not accompanied by the best facets of democracy but, from a reduced role in international networking, by extremism and urban violence. Have these countries gone from full security and no freedom to full freedom and no security at all ? Increased social and economic inequalities and poverty, exacerbated nationalism and ethnic conflicts are threatening peaceful social, political and economic development. The stresses and strains of transition are probably the most crucial challenge to the on-going process of European integration. The Nobel Peace laureate Vaclav Havel said that the former communist countries "had re-entered history". That great statesman, Alexander Dubcek, whose last resting place is here in this city, played an outstanding and courageous part in the process of that re-entry. He did so on the basis of values which stand out today as a guiding star. The messengers disappear but the messages remain. At a time of unprecedented global change, when values and ideals are more necessary than ever, we cannot afford to forget the lessons of great personalities like Dubcek. They can help us reach the long-term goal of European integration sustained by democracy, justice and development for all. Europe has to build new political and economic structures, structures which are based on universal democratic values, on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It must build structures which accommodate religious, linguistic and historical diversity within Europe. Structures which mediate between East and West, North and South. This requires a clear prospective vision. And the mediation between action and vision requires, in turn, well-founded social sciences. Over half a century ago, the founders of UNESCO recommended that the social sciences occupy a central position in monitoring the social integration of humanity. The past decade has been an important period of stock-taking as regards our inherited traditions of social knowledge. Social scientists in universities, research institutes and international associations have participated in this reassessment of the intellectual traditions and major scientific achievements of the social sciences in our century. UNESCO is playing its part in this process: the first issue of its World Social Science Report will be published next year. With this Report, I will see completed one of my dreams when I took up my functions in UNESCO: to have biennial reports on education, science, communication, culture and social sciences. Within UNESCO, new grounds for transdisciplinarity, especially for enhanced co-operation between natural and social sciences were laid down during the 28th session of the General Conference in 1995. A good illustration of this is the close collaboration between the natural and social sciences in the preparation of the World Conference on Science, that UNESCO will be holding in June 1999 in Budapest. As this Conference will aim at a better public understanding of the impact of science on society and at obtaining a greater commitment of governments, industry and society towards science, the social sciences will play an important role in its conduct and its follow-up. UNESCO's transdisciplinary projects on " Cities: management of social and environmental transformations" and on " Coastal Zones and Small Islands" were launched in close co-operation between MOST, the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), and the Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB). Transnational or global approaches towards the social sciences are urgently needed to understand the pressing questions of our time. The MOST Programme which, as you know, was initiated at the first European Social Science Conference in Santander, has a thematic focus on global issues, such as managing multi-cultural societies, migration, poverty and social exclusion and urban development. Through its strategy to create regional, and global policy research networks, UNESCO promotes the transition towards social science for a truly global world. Social scientists should self-critically orient their research and teaching by asking these two questions: What kind of knowledge? Knowledge for what and for whom? The first question entails scrutinizing concepts, models and methods which guide the interpretation of the social world. The second question - knowledge for what and for whom? - raises the issue of the pertinence of social knowledge to the challenges of our times. UNESCO’s MOST Programme is explicitly aimed at producing policy-oriented knowledge and enhancing co-operation between social scientists and decision-makers. Given the challenges posed by social transformations on a global scale, it is imperative to restructure the social sciences. Obstacles must first be overcome. There is a lack of institutional resources in social science research and training in Europe. First, social sciences in Europe have been particularly oriented at understanding and explaining social, economic and political national problems. Not enough empirical data have been collected or analyzed on the European level. This poses immense problems for valid analyses of the process of European integration in such fields as immigration, unemployment, mobility or environmental policies. The recent initiative of the European Science Foundation to develop a European Social Survey is intended to start filling these gaps of empirical data and should, therefore, be strongly supported. Methodological development has also been relatively weak in European social sciences. Developing a common European research and training agenda is a very important task. This could be the best outcome of this meeting. At the Central and Eastern European Regional Conference of the MOST Programme in Budapest 1995, it was pointed out that research personnel and financing in Eastern European social sciences had dramatically declined. Taking into consideration all these institutional and intellectual shortcomings, it is a major challenge for European social science to be able to monitor the complex processes of European integration and post-communist social transition. The social sciences in Europe can bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences and reconnect transdisciplinary social science to the ethical vision of a culture of peace and tolerance based on human rights and democracy. With co-operation among the respective national research traditions, the diversity of social sciences in Europe can become a source of rich creativity. It can renew a transnational and pluralist social science. Social science in Europe should also add stronger ties with social sciences in Africa, Asia and Latin America to its traditional co-operation with North America. It should improve its collaboration with public authorities and actors in civil society by providing expertise, by capacity-building and by discussing research issues. Governance under conditions of "globalization" needs social science knowledge on the local and regional level. Only then will actors and decision-makers be capable of monitoring "globalization from below" and of creating institutional structures supportive of democratization on multiple levels. This Conference can make another important step forwards in restructuring the social sciences in Europe. It will be an important contribution to the development of the social sciences in general. It will also be a great contribution to shaping the future of a more peaceful, more inclusive Europe. Note Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO (1987-1999).

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