In 1950, the Venezuelan Professor Mariano Picón Salas directed a historical seminar in the College of Mexico, concentrated on one region which he called Latin America. Subsequently, in response to comments from Brazilian collaborators, the program was broadened so as to aim at a comprehensive view of the histories of all the Ibero-American nations in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The purpose was to discover whether there were not periods with comparable characteristics in the histories of the various countries.

The question that Mr. Tierney calls the perennial problem of poor relief, whether eligibility should be determined by need alone or by other considerations, has not yet been settled. It is true that once eligibility for certain types of aid has been established, we no longer inquire into the moral character of the recipients, or attempt to fix an order of preference among them. But the fact that some categories of need are recognized by law, while others are not (or at least are less fully recognized) indicates that we still regard some of the needy as more deserving of assistance than others. Helping the poor, however, is by no means the only aim of modern benevolence. Our social agencies engage in many activities and offer numerous services that have little to do with the economic situation of those who benefit from them; and both public and private decisions concerning welfare are influenced by factors other than need or worthiness.

In the three societies considered in this essay, there are three quite different kinds of relation of religion to the state. In Iran, there came to be a church and, consequently, a church-state relationship. In India, there was the oddest of all embodiments of religion, one which was entirely sui generis. China had a dead minimum of religious organization distinct from the organization of state. It would not be true to say that there were never any ecclesiastical institutions in China, but they were non-existent during much of China's history and, during most of the time when they did exist, they were marginal to the society's main form. The outward observances of religion in China were always conducted chiefly by state personages as a part of their proper functions. China offers, in fact, an extreme case of possible relations between religion and government, a case at the opposite end of the spectrum from the end where Strayer finds those relations in Europe. Indian ecclesiastical institutions are, of course, to be found in the caste system. Through the caste system the Brahmans have exerted their immense authority. The origin of caste remains a matter of dispute and its relation with and effect upon the state remain obscure. The Iranian church came to be a solid and very formidable body, offering a most instructive comparison with the Christian church in Europe. But the Iranian church did not begin to emerge until the Parthian period, reaching its full development in the Sassanian era, from the third to the seventh centuries A.D.

An Interdisciplinary Conference on International Understanding and Peaceful Co-operation, called by the social science division of UNESCO, was held in Prague, September 24–30, 1958. The approximately thirty social scientists present came from seventeen countries, including Egypt and Japan (which had not had representatives at previous meetings of the series). The Czechoslovakian National UNESCO Commission were hosts to the meeting, which was held in the Charles University.

Centralized bureaucratic polities can be defined as those political systems with the following major characteristics: first, the political sphere is relatively autonomous and distinct from other social institutions and second, there exist special permanent administrative organizations. We shall base our analysis on a number of pre-modern historical examples: the ancient Egyptian Empires, the Sassanid Empire of Persia, the Chinese Empires from the period of Han onwards, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, certain European countries (especially France) in the age of Absolutism, and the Spanish American Empire. Our purpose is to bring out the common characteristics of the political process in these historical societies, especially as it effects their continuity and stability. In the following pages we shall present some preliminary hypotheses and analyses about the political process in these polities. These hypotheses and analyses are derived from a larger and more detailed study which is in progress.

During the first millenium A.D. a series of states were formed by Turkic and Mongol peoples, the nomadic pastoralists of the Asian steppes - the Tatars of European and Chinese record. These political enterprises enlarged their scope and power during the period of a millenium, reaching a climax in the empire of Chingis Khan in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; from this climactic achievement they have since declined. The social and political organization as well as the economy of these peoples are at once simple and complex, primitive and advanced. The characterization of this cultural world has been given focus in a sharp controversy, the controversy over the establishment and internal ordering of the political system.

The Institute of Pedagogy of the Spanish Higher Council of Scientific Research is undertaking an international enquiry into the organization of research in the historical sciences.

Under the auspices of UNESCO, social scientists of various disciplines and countries have held small meetings these past two years to discuss, plan and present research having to do with the general problem of peaceful co-existence. At the initial meeting, held in Geneva in 1956, it was decided to organize future sessions by academic discipline - meetings of economists, comparative jurists, of political scientists and sociologists. The sociologists' meeting was held in Moscow, January 6th to 12th, 1958. The International Sociological Association organized it; the Institute of Philosophy of the Soviet Academy of Science was host.