Paul Samuel Reinsch

Paul Samuel Reinsch (June 10, 1869 – January 26, 1923), was an American political scientist and diplomat. He played an influential role in developing the field of international relations. He helped form the American Political Science Association and the American Society of International Law.

He was a strong proponent of the Open Door Policy (a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China) and a critic of imperialism. While Reinsch was at the University of Wisconsin, Richard Ely founded the School of Economics, Political Science and History.

He was assistant professor of political science from 1899 to 1901, and full professor from 1901 to 1913.

In 1900, Reinsch published World Politics at the End of the Nineteenth Century. The book, which focuses on great power disputes over China, German imperialism and American expansionism, has been characterized as an early writing within the field of political science that recognized that international politics were shaped by unique economic, political and intellectual forces. In the book, Reinsch identifies a shift from nationalism to national imperialism where the new desire of European nation-states is to control as much territory as possible. He writes,Experience seems to show that even those institutions which are by us considered the very foundation of good government may have harmful results when introduced into another society. The most striking example of this is found in the experience of Great Britain in India...The system has in general had a most unfortunate effect upon the intelligent life of India, introducing elements entirely alien to Indian culture which have turned the mind of Indian educated men away from the development of their inherited philosophical and literary civilization.

Diplomatic career Reinsch was part of the U.S. delegation to the third and fourth Pan-American conferences in 1906 and 1910, and the first Pan-American Scientific Congress in Santiago in 1909.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Reinsch United States Minister to China, a position he held until 1919 when he became legal advisor to the Chinese government. During his time in China, Reinsch was a strong proponent for greater US aid to China, increased Red Cross activities in China, and an alliance between the US and China in World War I.

Final years He established a law firm in Washington D.C. in 1920.

Publications (1899). The Common Law in the Early American Colonies. (1900). World Politics at the End of the Nineteenth Century. (1902). Colonial Government. (1909). Readings on American Federal Government.(1909). Civil Government.(1911). Readings on American State Government.(1911). Intellectual and Political Currents in the Far East.(1911). Public International Unions. (1922). An American Diplomat in China.

Selected articles "A Parliament for China," The Atlantic, December 1, 1909. "Intellectual Life in Japan," The Atlantic'', October 1910.

He was a contributor to the New International Encyclopedia.