The IGI Series on Global Responsibilities brings multidisciplinary and global perspectives to major contemporary questions. This year’s spotlight on China highlights its international presence and influence today. Beyond geopolitics and security topics, series speakers will examine various global issues and questions relating to climate, trade, technology, economic development, public health, human rights, and higher education.
*****************************************************************************************************
Women & Gender in Global Perspectives Program
Title: Resilience Amidst Repression: The Chinese Feminist Movement in the Era of Escalating Authoritarianism"
Speaker: Lü Pin, PhD student in Political Science, Rutgers University
Date: September 12, 2023
Time: 12:00pm (noon)
Location: 306 Coble Hall and via Zoom
Register via: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/775272977
Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees with registration.
Lü Pin is a prominent Chinese feminist activist and an emerging scholar specializing in Gender and Politics. Her journey in advocating for women's rights began in the late 1990s. In 2009, she established Feminist Voices, a pioneering and the largest new media platform dedicated to women's issues in China, which was banned in 2018. Since 2012, Lü Pin has been dedicated to empowering young feminists and supporting their activism throughout China. After relocating to the U.S. in 2015, she spearheaded the organizing of the diaspora Chinese feminist community.
Center for African Studies
Title: African Agency and the Future of Africa-China Engagements
Speaker: Dr. Kwame Adovor Tsikudo, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia
Date: November 1, 2023
Time: 12:00pm (noon)
Location: Room 306 Coble Hall (lunch provided) and via Zoom registration link: https://illinois.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcOitqTIrHt36fVX_TOEkZXZnyz0pe_RA#/registration
Dr. Kwame Adovor Tsikudo is an assistant professor of geography and global studies at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Kwame’s research examines the political economy of China-Africa engagements and the role of the African state. The main strands of this research entail linkage creation, state capacity and agency, environmental governance, energy justice, and sustainability. Kwame’s recent work used mixed exploratory methods to investigate how the Ghanaian state shaped the developmental outcomes of the Chinese-financed Bui Hydroelectric Dam. His ongoing project explores the power dynamics of development infrastructures in China-Africa relations. Kwame is a research fellow at Afro-Sino for international relations and serves on the African Geographical Review editorial board.
Africa and China have, over the past two decades, forged robust relationships involving cooperating on issues such as COVID-19, mutual developments, and multilateral bloc voting. While African countries welcome the burgeoning engagement for fulfilling vital fiscal and infrastructural deficits, the extent to which African agency shapes the interactions remains an issue. Drawing on research from Ghana’s Bui hydropower dam, this presentation contextualizes African agency by examining how Chinese African (Ghanaian) employees resisted and challenged poor working conditions and unfavorable labor practices and regimes. This analysis foregrounds micro-scale agency as critical in shaping the future of Africa-China engagements by offering alternative narratives. The discussion challenges the state-centric approach to agency and argues that socio-political contexts, including history, law enforcement, and institutional effectiveness, are prerequisites for successfully exercising agency in Africa-China relationships. The study reinforces the centrality of autonomous, sagacious, and resourceful institutions in facilitating mutual benefits of Africa-China relations.
Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies
Title: Taiwanese Perceptions of US Credibility in the Taiwan Strait
Speaker: Wen-Chin Wu, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica
Date: November 29, 2023
Location: 306 Coble Hall
For decades, the United States has maintained a stance of “strategic ambiguity” with regard to the Taiwan Strait. Although the Taiwan Relations Act states that the US would provide Taiwan with defense articles and services to bolster Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, the US refrains from officially declaring whether it would intervene in Taiwan's defense in the event of a Chinese attack, leaving room for speculation from both Taiwan and China. While some experts view this as a strategy to achieve "dual deterrence," preventing unilateral changes in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, it is contended that the lack of clarity regarding the US security commitment to Taiwan may either lead to miscalculate US resolve or undermine US credibility. Consequently, the US needs to implement policies aiming at reaffirming its commitment to Taiwan when necessary. This study presents survey findings from nationally representative samples to systematically show how the Taiwanese perceive US credibility and how they evaluate different US foreign policies toward Taiwan in terms of ensuring Taiwan’s national security.
Dr. Wen-Chin Wu is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. His research focuses on comparative and international political economy, comparative authoritarianism, and Chinese politics. He received his B.A. from National Chengchi University (NCCU), M.A. from NCCU and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Ph.D. from Michigan State University. During the 2019-20 academic year, he was a visiting scholar at the Harvard-Yenching Institute at Harvard University. Currently, he also serves as the coordinator of the Institute for Social Science Methodology, and the executive editor of the Chinese Political Science Review.
Center for Global Studies
Title: The Rise of Data Politics: Digital China and the World
Speaker: Lizhi Liu, Assistant Professor at the McDonough School of Business and a faculty affiliate of the Department of Government at Georgetown University
Date: February 7, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: This event will be held virtually over Zoom. To register, please visit https://illinois.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4qsRySCPRWqkCJfsxod6oQ#/registration
This presentation by Dr. Liu provides a comprehensive analysis of data politics in the context of China's digital evolution. Dr. Liu will examine points addressed in the publication, such as the unique challenges posed by data in international economic relations, with a focus on externalities, commitment issues, and valuation difficulties. Dr. Liu will discuss the impact of these challenges on China's external economic engagements, addressing topics like data sovereignty and the valuation of state power in a data-centric global economy. This presentation will be an informative exploration of the intersection between technology, economics, and international relations.
Dr. Lizhi Liu, an Assistant Professor at the McDonough School of Business and a faculty affiliate of the Department of Government at Georgetown University; she is the author of "The Rise of Data Politics: Digital China and the World." Specializing in trade politics, technology, innovation, and the political economy of China, her work has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the 2020 Ronald H. Coase Best Dissertation Award from the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics and the 2019 Best Dissertation Award from the American Political Science Association. Her insightful research has been featured in renowned publications and media outlets, reflecting her significant contributions to the field.
European Union Center
Title: Cities as Actors in the EU Policy towards China
Speaker: Tomasz Kamiński, Associate Professor of Asian Studies, University of Łódź
Date: February 22, 2024
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Lucy Ellis Lounge, 1080 Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics Building, 707 S Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
City diplomacy between EU and Chinese cities has become an increasingly significant layer of bilateral relations. The collaboration between cities is extensive and covers a wide range of thematic areas, with around half of the European cities having partnerships with Chinese counterparts, according to a survey of 745 cities. In my speech, I will analyse the role of cities in the multilevel framework of EU policy towards China. Based on survey results, I will try to unpack the city level of EU relations with China, showing its scope, patterns of cooperation, and potential political impact. I will present theoretical and empirical arguments to support the notion that city diplomacy should have a much more significant impact on EU policy towards China.
Tomasz Kamiński is a political scientist and associate professor at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, University of Lodz. His research activities are concentrated on paradiplomacy and city diplomacy, particularly in the context of EU foreign policy. He has worked on numerous research projects funded by the European Commission (Horizon 2020, Jean Monnet Module) and the Polish National Science Centre. He co-authored a book, "The Role of Regions in EU-China Relations". Please visit his website to find his publications and details about his work: http://www.tomaszkaminski.eu.
Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies
Title: Who is Us?: The Globalization of Innovation and Challenges to Assessing Technological Dependence
Speaker: Jeffrey Ding, George Washington University
Date: March 1, 2024
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: This event will be held virtually. To register, please visit https://illinois.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H4WeP49qSFuuQQVwf02KUA#/registration
How do states assess technological self-sufficiency in a globalizing world? To sustain long-term growth and limit foreign dependency, rising powers pursue domestic sources of technological innovation. In recent decades, however, the hybridization of innovation — marked by increased cross-border financial flows and expanded mobility of high-skilled workers — has challenged emerging economies’ capacity to determine what constitutes “independent” or “indigenous” innovation. Borrowing Robert Reich’s notation, the grounds for debate over “who is us” have fundamentally shifted. Dr. Ding's research posits that, compared to previous generations, rising powers today adopt more malleable boundaries for the corporate actors included within indigenous innovation because their technology ecosystems are more reliant on transnational technical communities and foreign direct investment. Case studies of how policymakers evaluated independent innovation in China, India, and Japan provide empirical support for the theory. These comparisons, across time and between states, illustrate how structural changes in the global economy have made it more difficult for rising powers to draw lines between “domestic” and “foreign” companies, resulting in unsettled assessments of independent innovation. This presentation contributes to academic and policy debates about the consequences of economic dependence, the efficacy of high-profile industrial policies, and how developing states manage the challenges of globalization.
Jeffrey Ding is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at George Washington University. Previously, he served as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation. His research agenda covers emerging technologies and international security, the political economy of innovation, and China's scientific and technological capabilities. His book manuscript investigates how past technological revolutions influenced the rise and fall of great powers, with implications for U.S.-China competition in emerging technologies like AI. Dr. Ding’s research has been published or is forthcoming in European Journal of International Security, Foreign Affairs, International Studies Quarterly, Review of International Political Economy, and Security Studies, and his work has been cited in The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and other outlets. He received his PhD in 2021 from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned his B.A. in 2016 at the University of Iowa.
Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
Title: Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao
Speaker: Joseph Torigian, American University
Date: March 26, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: This event will be held virtually over Zoom. To register, please visit https://go.illinois.edu/Torigian.
The political successions in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao, respectively, are often explained as triumphs of inner‑party democracy, leading to a victory of “reformers” over “conservatives” or “radicals.” In traditional thinking, Leninist institutions provide competitors a mechanism for debating policy and making promises, stipulate rules for leadership selection, and prevent the military and secret police from playing a coercive role. In this book talk, Joseph Torigian argues that the post-cult of personality power struggles in history’s two greatest Leninist regimes were instead shaped by the politics of personal prestige, historical antagonisms, backhanded political maneuvering, and violence. Mining newly discovered material from Russia and China, he challenges the established historiography and suggests a new way of thinking about the nature of power in authoritarian regimes.
Joseph Torigian is a Research Fellow at Stanford's Hoover History Lab and an Assistant Professor at American University's School of International Service.
Center for South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies
Title: China and the Middle East through the Lens of the Halal Diplomacy
Speaker: Zaynab El Bernoussi, Visiting Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy, NYU Abu Dhabi
Date: April 9, 2024
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: This event will be held virtually over Zoom. To register, please visit https://illinois.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6j2ET67_T6GqnY5nJBm5Cw#/registration
This research on the global halal economy focuses on select halal markets, which are significant in size and their aspiration of leading halal certification and related quality standardization in the past few years. The MENA is a case in point. South East Asia has been inspiring a halal diplomacy with other players. For each case, I systematically look at whether China is a significant partner in the halal market and projections regarding their influence. The expansion of the halal certification process in these countries also presents a trend that is now increasingly observable in major regional markets of halal, i.e., MENA, EU and ASEAN. The paper first presents a general review of literature in social studies of halal markets and international relations of the global South relevant to the topic of the research, notably with the growing influence of China. Then, the methods section provides an overview of the actors interviewed to learn about halal certification and quality standardization, and the questions that framed the discussions and exchange with them. Lastly, the findings and analysis section concentrates on three key arguments: 1) the halal protocols suffer from a double illness: firms find them burdensome and halal certification bodies (HCBs) from different countries tend to distrust each other; 2) despite being the symbolic center of the Muslim world, MENA countries seem to lag behind in terms of heralding global efforts to unify the global halal economy; 3) even if the global halal market lacks unity in terms of its framing, its growth is triggering important advancements in terms of standardization and quality control that institutionalize consumption and production ethics and professionalize the halal market.