In Brighton, May attended the Rising Powers Network meeting in IDS on the 25-26^th November 2010. Sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council in UK, the rising power network is a new network that seeks to analyse the implications of China as the new ‘shaper’ of global development. The network will bridge the gap between our understanding of China’s policy interests and processes and its development impacts in low income countries, as well as implications of this for the international development community more broadly. The impacts of the network will be an analytical framework and research agenda to inform future engagements between the UK, low income countries and Chinese policy-makers, such as on energy and climate change.

The first workshop took place in Beijing in July 2010 and discussed China’s development experience and how this shapes its engagements internationally. The second workshop takes place in late September 2010 in London and is looking at how we can understand the impacts of these engagements in low income countries with a view to identifying gaps and looking at new areas to research. The third workshop is looking at how to apply the conceptual framework developed throughout the network activities to particular areas of on-going research on energy, climate change and the environment and to link these environmental themes with other themes of China’s rise as a development actor such as governance, aid, trade and investments. For more information, please access the following website for more information:  http://risingpowers.open.ac.uk/

At the University of Cambridge, May was involved in a research meeting which looks at the ‘non-DAC donors’ and the role of public perspectives in shaping the future of aid. This project looks at materials such as publicly available government documentation, official press releases and media reporting on ‘foreign aid’ (as donors and recipients) to answer the following questions: to what extent and how governments seek to engage their publics; what agendas and ‘moralities’ are constructed and claimed; how donor publics and civil society groups understand and define ‘foreign aid’; and how is this publically positioned in relation to ‘development cooperation’, the ‘African renaissance’, commercial trade and investment, and ‘South-South partnership’.

At the University of Nottingham, May visited the School of Politics and Geography Department for new research collaboration and funding opportunities. In London, May visited ex-students who were pursuing postgraduate studies in well-established universities such as London School of Economics. It was gratifying to see UNNC students progress onto bright paths of academia. At the same time, during May’s stay in United Kingdom, there were a series of protests and demonstrations against the university fee hikes. In Brighton, May ran into a group of three thousands students demonstrating, which later became a bit smelly with students throwing rotten eggs at stores and breaking out into small groups of jostling matches with the police. In London, the aftermath of the tensions were manifested on the Nelson Column in Trafalgar Square through graffiti. Overall, it was an interesting and fruitful trip for a round-bellied May.

from left to right: Professor Mark Kramer (Harvard), Associate Professor James Hershberg (George-Washington University), Dr. Sergey Radchenko (UNNC), Professor David Wolff (Hokkaido)

At the invitation of the Division of International Studies, Professor Mark Kram from Harvard University, Associate Professor James Hershberg from George-Washington University and Professor David Wolff from University of Hokkaido visited UNNC to discuss the always thorny question of open access to archives. Associate professor Hershberg gave a brief overview over the changing public attitudes toward to archive openness in United States, and concluded that the balance between citizens’ basic right to access information and government’s concerns on national security is the central theme. Professor Kram illustrated his opinions by stressing the close connections between openness of information and people’s ordinary life. From sociological perspective, Professor Wolff explained accessibility of information as cultural capital which is essential for citizensihip. The animated discussion which followed the roundtable concerned China’s gradual changing polices on archive openness to recent news about Wikileak’s reveal about secret reports of Iraq War.

“The Russian overtures [to China] were perpetually undercut by the enduring legacy of their traditional civilizing mission in the East. Russian cultural arrogance and presumptions about the benefits of their “fraternal” aid and support apparently knew no bounds, emphasizes Radchenko, and played a large role in dooming the relationship. [...] The Russians knew a lot about the Chinese, but not much about themselves. Radchenko’s excellent book is a fascinating contribution to the new international history of the Cold War.”

Professor Chapman from Peking University

In his lecture, Professor Chapman focused on  Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of State under President Herbert Hoover, and discussed his influence on American foreign policy towards Japan following the Japanese military action in China known as the Shenyang (Mukden) Incident of 1931.  The Stimson Doctrine, laid down in a note of January 7, 1932, lay the basis for the  US policy of not recognizing Japan’s seizure of Mandchuria on the grounds that these  international territorial changes were executed by force. Professor Chapman detailled in his lecture how Stimson had arrived at his opinion about Japan’s policies and how these had evolved over the year. UNNC  students, who are interested in foreign policy and international history, learned a lot from this lecture which challenged received wisdom in a number of points.

From the conference website:

The 2010 LSE-FGV Cold War History School in Rio de Janeiro focused on the recent scholarship related to the global Cold War, with a special emphasis on Latin America, Asia and Europe. Key topics explored during the School included the role of ideology and the spread of ideas across continents, the rise of the Third World and Third Worldism, the Cold War in Latin America and in Brazil, and different paths to economic development during the Cold War era.The School is primarily designed for up to 50 advanced graduate students, doctoral candidates and young faculty in Latin America drawn from history and the social sciences broadly defined.

other details:

http://cpdoc.fgv.br/relacoesinternacionais/coldwarschool/prog

Moreover, during a Biannual African Studies Conference in Oxford University, Dr.Kiwuwa delivered a paper on the Rwanda 2010 Presidential and 2008 Parliamentary Elections. This conference was also addressed by the US under Secretary for Africa, Johnnie Carson.