Science, Government, and the Case of RAND: A Singular Pluralism

Abstract

At one level, The RAND Corporation is simply an intensive treatment of a new American form of enterprise, academia, and government action: the nonprofit research or advisory corporation. At this level, Smith’s work is of particular interest, both to the student of public administration and to the public administrator. The broad question Smith asks is why RAND has been so successful—that is, why it has prospered according to its own outlook and has satisfied its sponsors according to theirs—in contrast to comparable but different types of research or advisory organizations. The answer appears to be that RAND has succeeded so well because, both in its foundation and in its continuing operations, it “has been able to avoid a completely dependent status vis-à-vis the Air Force,” its original and still-primary sponsor. How RAND has managed this and what the most noteworthy particular aspects of its independence have been are the subsidiary questions to which Smith devotes the bulk of his study.¹

[This note was written by the editors of World Politics in 1968.] Review articles in World Politics are ordinarily solicited, as was this article, by the editor primarily responsible for reviews. Solicitation complicates the decision about acceptance or rejection. At the time the editorial decision was due, the editors were sharply divided on the publishability of Mr. Green’s article. The issue before the editors was whether or not the article was suitable for a scholarly journal such as World Politics. Mr. Falk definitely thought it was; Mr. Knorr thought it was not. The advice of four additional readers, the majority of whom favored publication, failed to resolve the issue. The editors agreed that it was best to publish the article and let each reader judge for himself.—Richard A. Falk, Klaus Knorr, Editors.