| The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was an international non-government organization concerned with Asia Pacific regional issues active from the 1920s through 1950s. It was established in Honolulu in 1925, moved its headquarters to New York in 1933, and dissolved in 1960 after running afoul of McCarthyism during the 1950s. The IPR was administered and financed largely by Americans, although people from throughout the region participated in its programs. It brought together scholars, businessmen, and politicians from most of the Asia Pacific nations to discuss the conditions, opinions, and feelings of the peoples in the region. It provided nations with an opportunity to find the way "to right actions which will lead to understanding and peace in the Pacific." Toward this end, it sponsored a vast amount of scholarly research on numerous regional topics. China was an active participant in the IPR and the subject of much of its research. Nankai Institute of Economics (NIE), soon after its initial establishment in 1928 as the University Committee on Social and Economic Research, became a major recipient of the IPR's research grants in China and conducted a series of pioneering social science research projects. The IPR-NIE relationship provides substantial insight as to how Western, especially American, influence played a role in shaping China's early social science research programs. This study discusses the relationship between IPR and NIE with a focus on the IPR's role in developing the NIE, funding it, and influencing its research projects. It concludes with some thoughts on the lessons this experience left for contemporary regional organizations. |
