Science and National Identity

Science, Technology and the Nation

Some current, recent and earlier publications by Dr Roy H W Johnston,
Techne Associates,

mostly socio-economic, socio-technical, socio-political, some historical, in all cases related to the interaction of global scientific culture with the local national techno-economic culture, mostly in the Irish context.

(c)All this material is copyright to the author

As background to this work I have collected over the years a good few books, which I am in the process of listing in a (growing) classified catalogue. Any person or organisation interested in taking over selected volumes or groupings is welcome to contact me; the address can be reconstructed from rjtechne at iol dot ie. RHWJ March 2012.

TABLE of CONTENTS

Objectives of this web-site.
Links to selected professional, political, cultural and other related sites.
Primarily related to Current Politics, including the current 'decade of centenaries', current long-term issues such as Energy and Climate Change, as well as European, constituional and other issues: this should mostly be regarded as 'work in progress' and subject to revision:
- TACKLING THE EU/EUROZONE'S ASSAULT ON NATIONAL DEMOCRACY a paper submitted by Anthony Coughlan relating to the current political and economic crisis;
- Ireland and World War 1: Implications of the Larne and Howth Gun-runnings: some aspects of British imperial strategy in 1904-14 relating to Germany and the war threat, suggesting a need for further research;
- Some historical and contemporary comments on problems arising in industrial and finance capital, and on the role of the State in their solution (currently in process of development).
- An outline of a system for managing woodland as an energy and timber source in a farm management context.
Primarily Science-related (though with a political flavour): mostly published:
- In EASTS (East Asian Science, Tecnology and Society) Vol 5 #2 2011:Global Networking: the Core-Fringe Problem (an analysis of the June 2010 STEP conference in Galway, suggesting its potential global significance).
- Article on Energy Issues in Organic Production and Marketing published in the July-August 2008 issue of Organic Matters, published by the Irish Organic Farmers and Growers Association (IOFGA).
- Some notes on Local Food Supply in a Global Context, arising from the August 2007 world Quaker conference in Dublin.
- Notes and comments arising from the August 2007 Feasta Climate Change seminar at the 'Green Gathering' at Woodbrook, Bunclody, Co Wexford.
- In IFIP WG9.4 July 2006: Some Reflections on ICT and Development (in the Bernal tradition);
- Limerick seminar June 2006: Bernal Institute: a Possible Approach?.
- Chapter on JD Bernal in Physicists of Ireland, published by the Institute of Physics, 2003;
- Selected book reviews relating to science;
- Miscellaneous Science Policy Papers 1970-2001, including some Sustainability ideas for Teagasc;
- The Boyle Medal of the RDS as a measure of scientific esteem: an account of the century 1899-1999;
- Science in India (Science and Public Policy Feb 1997);
- Scientific Culture and National Identity: a 1995 hypertext construction based on several works on this theme;
- The Practical Arts in Irish Culture (Causeway, Belfast, Sept 1993);
- Physics on the Fringe (Physics Today July 1992, unabridged version);
- A vision for Dublin public transport (1991).
- Steps towards the development of a Regional Policy (1990).
- Science in a Post-colonial Culture (Irish Review Spring 1990, full version);
- The British Association in Ireland (Crane Bag 1983, version cleaned up; there were many misprints!);
- In Search of Techne (Irish Times Science and Technology Column 1970-1976, grouped and edited).
Primarily politics-related, though sometimes with a scientific flavour: also mostly published:
- Birkbeck conference July 2008, in commemoration of 1968 events: Civil Rights and the Republican Movement, an insider's view, 1963-72.
- An attempt to outline the 'Irish Question' to a British public in the London Progressive Journal.
- Avoiding Fundamentalism: a Quaker View, published in Humanism Ireland July-August 2008.
- Century of Endeavour: introducing my 2003 memoir giving a view of the 20th century as seen by my father Joe Johnston and myself; see also my notes on some books which reference Century of Endeavour.
- Selected book reviews having a political dimension.
- Current (2001) and historic (1970s) Science Policy Papers relevant to the Irish situation.
- Civil War in Ulster: an annotated edition of my father's 1913 book has been re-published in 1999 by UCD Press; a table of contents and some sample chapters are given.
- Updating the Manifesto: an Irish Perspective on the 1848 Communist Manifesto of Marx and Engels (Paris 1998).
- Violence and the Nation-Building Process-Some Reflections on Irish National Identity; a paper read at the AGM of the Ulster Quaker Peace Committee on February 13 1988.

Objectives of this web-site: a 'mission statement':

This web site is mainly a record of publications by RHWJ which explore the relationship between the evolving culture of science, with its roots in ancient Greece, mediaeval Islam, the European Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and the (also evolving) culture of Irish nationality, with its roots in a complex variety of local economic, social, political, linguistic and religious traditions.

It is also dedicated to exploring how this experience might be of value in other emergent nations making the transition from colonial to post-colonial status, and to fostering the convergence of all scientific specialist disciplines, including the physical, biological, social, economic and political sciences, towards a holistic philosophical dynamic.

The site is under continuous development and comments are welcome. The author may be contacted by e-mail, with an address which can be reconstructed from the URL of this site, according to convention.

Some navigational notes: