The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Hague is a unique, independent and international graduate school in the social sciences. The Institute of Social Studies was established in the aftermath of World War II at a time when there was widespread concern in Europe about reconstruction and when decolonization had been set in motion in India, Pakistan, Ceylon and then Indonesia. The Dutch government set up a development institute, the Institute of Social Studies, in 1952. It was the first of its kind in Europe, an innovative and far-reaching move that was to prove well ahead of its time. As in Britain about a decade later, the Dutch were primarily concerned with the potential loss of influence and markets in their former colonies and a training centre was seen as a way of forging new links. It would provide much needed assistance, influencing the thinking of future policy-makers, and building new allegiances that would keep open the door for their own interests and businesses.
In January 1952, the Netherlands Universities Foundation for International Cooperation (NUFFIC) was created to facilitate and oversee the work. One of its first tasks was the creation of an international Institute of Social Studies—a special post-graduate, English-language institution that would bring Dutch knowledge to bear in a distinctive model of higher education to do with problems of development. It is one of the oldest and largest centres for the comparative study and research of social, political and economic development and change. ISS offers quality learning to its students and critical social science knowledge to its scientific peers, and stimulates debate with the general public, through an organisation that strives for ‘total quality care’. It is not to be confused with the Institute of Social Studies Trust in Delhi, India or with the Institute of Social Studies and Research in Tehran in Iran.
ISS is based in The Hague. It has around 62 academic staff and 280 full- time students. ISS staff members specialize in topics from land reform to enterprise development, and from the World Bank to slum politics, from human rights to genocide, and from inequality to social movements, from global migration to the role of media in conflict.In addition to its teaching and research, ISS is active in the fields of advisory work and institutional capacity building projects. All ISS activities are characterised by an interdisciplinary approach and are conducted by an international staff which reflects a broad range of experience and theoretical interests.
ISS is a member of The Hague Academic Coalition (HAC) which is a consortium of academic institutions in the fields of international relations, international law and international development. It is also affiliated with Ceres Ultrecht, which is part of the Interuniversitary Research School for Resource Studies for Development, a research and graduate school. ISS is one of the founding partners of The Hague Institute for Global Justice, a newly established research institute in The Hague.
Read more about International Institute Of Social Studies: History, Research and Publications, ISS Alumni, Honorary Fellows, Focuss.info
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