Expanding the Rhodes scholarships to China is a great idea – and not because China under President Xi Jinping is on its way to becoming a constitutional democracy. Since Cecil Rhodes created the scholarship (of which I was a recipient) in his will, its grand aspiration — which some might find overblown – has always been to reconcile countries that might otherwise be in conflict.
Case in point: Britain and Germany. Although it’s little remembered today, the Rhodes bequest originally provided for the election of German scholars, who were chosen from 1903 to 1914, again from 1929 to 1939, and from 1970 until now. Like other careful political observers of the time, Rhodes understood that Germany was a rising power poised to threaten Britain for European and global dominance.
One of Rhodes’ goals in creating the scholarship was to create commonality among English-speaking people, which is why he provided for scholarships from the countries of English Commonwealth and the U.S. But a comparably important purpose was to lessen hostility between Britain and Germany. German scholars, it was hoped, would develop an affinity for Britain during their studies in Oxford, and bring back pro-British sentiment to leadership positions in Germany.
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