美国“地区研究”兴起的历史考察

National Security and the Rise of U.S. Area Studies:A Historical Perspective

太平洋战争爆发后,特别是冷战初期,美国联邦政府、三大私人基金会以及相当一部分学者逐渐意识到深入了解非西方世界对维护国家安全的重要性,着手共同推动"地区研究"。联邦政府、私人基金会和学者三位一体体制运作的结果是复杂的:地区研究在迅速成长为一门显学的同时也不可避免地在很大程度上沦为政治的附庸;在满足了国家对地区专家和知识需求的同时也为一些地区研究者挑战美国对非西方世界的政策创造了条件。就美国地区研究兴起与国家安全考虑的密切关系而言,政治没有给学术留出太多独立生存的空间,而知识分子本身也并非都希望远离政治,学术与政治难以彻底分离。

After the outbreak of the Pacific War,and especially in the early Cold War period,the U.S.federal government,three major private foundations,and a considerable number of scholars came to realize that in-depth understanding of the non-Western world was very important for American national security,and proceeded to jointly promote Area Studies.The operation of this three-dimensional structure of the federal government,private foundations and scholars is complex.On one hand,it met the state's need for experts and knowledge in Area Studies and also provided favourable conditions for researchers to affect U.S.policy towards the non-Western world.On the other hand,it made Area Studies a distinguished school,as well as a henchman of politics to a large extent.In terms of the close relationship between the rise of U.S.Area Studies and national security concerns,politics leave little room for academic independence,yet not every scholar wishes to remain distant from politics.Thus it can be said that academia can rarely be completely separated from politics.