268 J.-A. PEMBERTON
opening address, Condliffe observed that having spent the past few days
addressing the nature of the study of international relations, a discussion
in which, Condliffe believed, none of the economists present partici-
pated, the conference was ‘now coming down to earth’: it was about to
turn its attention to concrete economic issues in the form of barriers to
commercial exchange.^94
This was an issue that had already been canvassed that year at two
meetings of economists which took place in Paris in February and April
and which had been convened by the GRC, the governing body of
which Condliffe was now chair.^95 Condliffe emphasised at the meetings
on economic policies in Prague that both he and the ISC’s international
programme committee had worked hard to ensure that the research
work undertaken by the various national groups was focussed and to the
point. He observed that all were agreed that previous conferences had
‘suffered from the mass of unrelated and somewhat uneven papers’ and
that there was a ‘general desire for a more concentrated and uniform
presentation as a basis for precise and effective round-table discussion.’^96
Condliffe pointed that while he and other members of the IPR’s sec-
retariat had in the past been criticised for their apparent ‘obsession with
scientific and particularly with economic policies,’ his experience with
that body had shown that ‘no matter how carefully factual or descriptive
the preparation,’ the discussants at conference meetings always wanted
to address political questions. Based on this experience, Condliffe told
his audience, he and the programme committee had thought it wise to
limit the scope of the preparation through choosing a single topic and
requesting a report that was ‘concise, factual and descriptive’ with a view
to ensuring that when discussion shifted to what were unavoidably politi-
cal questions, it would not be too ill-defined.^97
(^94) League of Nations, International Studies Conference XIth Session: Economic Policies in
Relation to World Peace—A Record of Meetings Held in Prague on May 25th and 26th, 1938
(Paris: International Institute of Intellectual Co-operation, 1938), 8, AG IICI K-X1-23, UA.
(^95) John B. Whitton to Henri Bonnet, 22 April 1938, and John Bell Condliffe, draft of
letter to Tracey Barrett Kittredge, 19 May 1938, AG 1-IICI-K-I-16.a, UA.
(^96) International Studies Conference: Report by the General Rapporteur Professor J. B.
Condliffe on the Meetings on Economic Policies in Relation to World Peace, AG IICI
KXI-22, UA.
(^97) League of Nations, International Studies Conference XIth Session: Economic Policies
in Relation to World Peace—A Record of Meetings Held in Prague on May 25th and 26th,
1938, AG 1-IICI K-X1-23, UA.