This volume contains 14 essays on the role of research and higher education in society today and in historical perspective. The essays' titles and authors are as follows: "Vagabonds, Specialists or the Voice of the People: Scandinavian Students and the Rise of the Modern Research University in the 19th Century" (Nils Runeby); "Knowledge and Power: Constraints and Expansion of Professional Influence in Western Capitalist Society" (Rolf Torstendahl); "'Bending with the Breeze': Political Preferences and Institutional Reforms in the Modern University System--A Case Study" (Olof Ruin); "Humanties as a Mirror of Society: 'The Battle of the Historians' in the Federal Republic of Germany in the Late 1980s" (Thorsten Nybom); "Cultural Identity and Nationhood: The Reconstitution of Germany--Or the Open Answer to an Almost Closed Question" (Bjorn Wittrock); "'Scientific Bureaucracy'? Research Implementation and Swedish Civil Servants" (Rune Premfors); "The Fragmentation of Research, Teaching and Study: An Explorative Essay" (Burton R. Clark ); "Bildung or Ausbildung: Scientific Dominance in Modern Higher Education" (Gunnar Bergendal); "The Research Connection: The Need for Argumentation in Teaching and Learning" (Stefan Bjorklund); "Research Training and the State: Politics and University Research in Sweden, 1890-1975" (Birgitta Oden); "The Exceptionalism of American Higher Education" (Martin Trow); "Swedish Research on Higher Education in Perspective" (Eskil Bjorklund); "The Academic Critique of the OECD Research Policy Doctrine: A Discursive Essay" (Sverker Gustavsson); "The American University and Research: A Historical Perspective" (Roger Geiger). Many of the essays include references, all of which are collected in a section at the end. An index is included. (JB)