The Evolution of Latin American Studies and Policy Making in China

• In Event: The Evolution of Latin American Studies in Asia: New Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

China’s Latin American studies and its roles in policy making have been keeping with the time in the context of both the development of Sino-Latin American relations and the changing of domestic situation. Generally, the process of the evolution of Latin American studies in China could be divided into three stages. Firstly, it is the period before 1976, when a few research institutes and universities were set up to conduct Latin American related research and mainly focused on historical and party issues. Unfortunately, the “lost decade” forced most of the research activities to stop because of the “cultural revolution” that happened during 1966 to 1976. A new stage began with the reform and political opening-up between late 1970s and continued till the early 2000s. Not only the institutes and universities resumed their studies, but the research agenda went beyond basic research to include applied and countermeasures research. Nowadays, with the tightening of relations between China and Latin America, more and more universities are encouraged by the Ministry of Education of China to establish regional and country research center (including Latin American research). The institutes like ILAS of CASS, ILAS of CICIR have been playing the key roles in policy making as they are important think-tanks for the Central Government of China.

Author

• Yang Zhimin, China Institute of Latin American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences