18 - Mauritius, Tanganyika (Tanzania), and Israel

Summary

Introduction

Titmuss actively engaged with certain developing countries, partly motivated by his support for racial equality. He also acted as an advisor to overseas academic institutions. So, for example, in 1963 he sought leave to act as external examiner for a new diploma course in Social Administration at Makerere University College in Uganda. This, he told Sydney Caine, was being developed to meet ‘East African needs’. Where possible, such initiatives should be supported, not least because of the LSE's own interests in ‘undergraduate and graduate courses in Social Administration and Community Development for students from overseas’. More broadly, the School had long been involved with the development of the social sciences in what were, initially, British colonies. Sheard, meanwhile, points to the significant number of African politicians who took their experiences at the LSE back to their own countries. In this chapter we examine Titmuss's engagement with Mauritius, Tanganyika (Tanzania), and Israel. In the case of the first two, Titmuss was commissioned by their governments to suggest ways forward for their welfare systems. Although Titmuss was the lead figure, it would appear that nearly all the heavy lifting, in terms of writing and research, was done by Abel-Smith and, in the case of Mauritius, Tony Lynes. In part, this resulted from Titmuss's indifferent health, although his willingness to delegate to a significant degree likewise needs to be taken into account. Israel was different. There Titmuss was involved more through talks and lectures, and the establishment of what were to be important professional and personal relationships. This involvement has, though, been little commented upon.

Mauritius

In early 1959 Titmuss was invited by the government of Mauritius, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean and at this point still a British colony, to report on ‘the provisions to be made for social security, bearing in mind the resources of the territory and the needs of its people’. The report, co-authored with Abel-Smith and Lynes, appeared in 1961. In his preamble, Titmuss remarked that he had asked that his commission's terms of reference be ‘interpreted widely enough to allow me to consider the whole field of social security, health and welfare’. This, along with his request that Abel-Smith and Lynes be involved, had been agreed.