Think Tanks and Power in Foreign Policy: A Comparative Study of the Role and Influence of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institure of International Affairs, 1939-1945

277 Pages·2004·1.53 MB·English

by  Inderjeet Parmar

Think Tanks and Power
in Foreign Policy
A Comparative Study of the Role and Influence of
the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal
Institute of International Affairs, 1939-1945
Inderjeet Parmar
Think Tanks and Power in Foreign Policy
Also by Inderjeet Parmar
SPECIAL INTERESTS, THE STATE AND THE ANGLO-AMERICAN
ALLIANCE, 1939–1945
Think Tanks and Power
in Foreign Policy
A Comparative Study of the Role and
Influence of the Council on Foreign
Relations and the Royal Institute of
International Affairs, 1939–1945
Inderjeet Parmar
Senior Lecturer, Department of Government
University of Manchester, UK
© Inderjeet Parmar 2004
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
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ISBN 1–4039–2103–2
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parmar, Inderjeet.
Think tanks and power in foreign policy:a comparative study of the role
and influence of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute
of International Affairs, 1939–1945/Inderjeet Parmar.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1–4039–2103–2
1. Council on Foreign Relations—History—20th century. 2. Royal
Institute of International Affairs—History—20th century. 3. United
States—Foreign relations—1933–1945. 4. Great Britain—Foreign
relations—1936–1945. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Diplomatic
history. 6. World War, 1939–1945—Public opinion. 7. Public opinion—
United States—History—20th century. 8. Public opinion—Great
Britain—History—20th century. 9. Research institutes—
United States—History—20th century. 10. Research institutes—
Great Britain—History—20th century. I. Title.
E806.P35555 2004
940.53′2241—dc22 2003066181
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents
Acknowledgements vi
Part 1 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Sociology of the CFR and RIIA 24
3 The World-view of Chatham House and the CFR 48
Part 2 75
4 The Role and Influence of Chatham House in the
Making of British Foreign Policy 77
5 The Role and Influence of the CFR in the Making of
American Foreign Policy 108
Part 3 133
6 The Role of the CFR in the Mobilisation of
American Public Opinion 135
7 The Role of Chatham House in the Mobilisation of
British Public Opinion 166
Part 4 187
8 CFR–RIIA Interconnections: A Transnational
Ruling Class, Liberal Atlantic Community or
Anglo-American Establishment? 189
9 Conclusion 215
Notes 224
Bibliography 249
Index 259
v
Acknowledgements
Over the course of researching and writing this book, I received generous
assistance from many individuals and organisations. My parents-in-law
have been absolutely marvellous. The material help they provided, in
all sorts of ways, went a long way to making this book possible at all,
especially during the many trips to the United States. In fact, it was
during a holiday visit to their home in Kuala Lumpur that this book was
planned. I must also thank Rekha for her wonderful hospitality and
other assistance. Finally, thanks are due to my brother, Gurmeet, for his
quiet confidence in my work over the years.
For financial support, the Department of Government, as well as the
former Department of American Studies, the Faculty of Economic and
Social Studies, the British Academy, and the Arts and Humanities Research
Board, proved generous sponsors. In addition, a visiting scholarship at
St John’s College, Oxford, was vital in conducting research at the Bodleian
Library; and a spell as Visiting Fellow at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript
Library at Princeton proved similarly helpful. The friendly archivists at
the Mudd Library even arranged an enjoyable (at least for me) lunch-time
seminar at which I tried to make some sense of the research I had thus
far done. I deeply appreciate their generosity.
In fact, the archivists and librarians at all of the institutions that
Ivisited – Chatham House, the CFR, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins,
the Rockefeller Foundation, Harvard, Yale, the US National Archives, the
Public Record Office and at the London School of Economics (BLPES) –
were helpful with their knowledge and expertise, and generous with
their time. I would particularly like to mention two of them: Mary Bone
and Ben Rosenbaum. It is a pleasure to thank them at this time.
There are a number of colleagues and friends whose contribution
tothis work has been very important, in providing encouragement,
a sounding board for some half-baked notions, reading chapter drafts
and giving constructive, helpful advice. From the Department, Douglas
Jaenicke has been an excellent friend, colleague and willing (I hope!)
reader, who never dodged a draft chapter. He is enough of a friend to
give his honest opinion, a truly rare commodity. Jonathan Harwood also
read several draft chapters and was so interested in the material that he
asked me questions that reminded me what the whole project was really
about which, as the ‘book’ writing entered its nth year, was pretty
vi
Acknowledgements vii
important! From a former colleague, Stephen Young, now retired,
I extracted many useful comments on the opening chapter. My thanks
to them all.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to several non-Manchester colleagues
and friends, especially Chris Hill, John Dumbrell, Des King, Michael
Heale, Mick Cox, Michael Dockrill and Leslie Sklair. Over the years, I have
learned a great deal from and about them, and have fully exploited
them! Many thanks for all those references, drinks and meals.
In the end, it is one’s family that offers the greatest, most practical and
‘unheroic’ support, diversions, and reminders of what life is actually all
about. Mine is no exception and my heartfelt thanks go to Meera and the
boys, Rohan and Nikhil who, without knowing it, keep me going when
times are a little ‘rough’ and celebrate little victories. Without them,
there would be no point, really.

Part 1