Call for Papers: 

Globalizing Rivalry? 

Sino-Japanese Interaction in World Politics

Date: November 12-13, 2015

Venue: Freie Universität Berlin

Graduate School of East Asian Studies

Hittorfstr. 18

140195 Berlin, Germany

 

The Graduate School of East Asian Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin (http://www.geas.fu-berlin.de/) and the Louis Frieberg Center for East Asian Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (http://www.eacenter.huji.ac.il) jointly organize a workshop on the topic: "Globalizing Rivalry? Sino-Japanese Interaction in World Politics". By discussing the global and cross-regional dimension of Sino-Japanese cooperation and conflict, this workshop aims at elucidating the consequences of one of the most significant interstate rivalries in world politics. The mounting rivalry between Japan and China has been a key aspect of world politics since the early 1990s. While a vast body of literature has analyzed this issue, the analytical focus has for the most part been on the rivalry within the East Asian region. Analyses that reach beyond East Asia have been largely neglected. Through theoretical and empirical analyses, the workshop focuses on the question if, why and how this Sino-Japanese power struggle within East Asia also affects Japan’s and China's foreign policy approaches beyond East Asia’s regional boundaries. To develop and improve explanations of the mutual influences of Japan's and China's foreign policy on the global and cross-regional level, the workshop addresses two important but understudied questions: First, how do interstate rivalries influence foreign policy approaches beyond regional boundaries? Second, which factors influence Sino-Japanese rivalry in different regions and on different levels of the international system? 

In order to answer these questions this workshop aims at advancing theoretical approaches to help explain the effects of power struggles between two regional powers on their global policies. It seeks to draw on different theoretical angles to understand interregional dynamics, interstate rivalries and their consequences for Japan's and China's concrete foreign policy approaches towards global institutions and different world regions. On the global level the analytical focus will be on the mutual influences of Japan's and China's approach towards international, multilateral institutions, such as the G20, UN etc. On the level of regional contexts, the workshop will concentrate on the regions that are attributed importance in the official publications of the Foreign Ministries in both countries. These regions include Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East/West Asia, North America and Southeast Asia/Pacific. Each region will be addressed from one scholar focusing on the Japanese and one scholar focusing on the Chinese perspective.

We welcome abstracts from scholars working in various disciplines including (but not limited to) International Relations, Security Studies, Japanese Studies, Chinese Studies and International Political Economy. Between 5 and 10 more papers will be solicited through this call for papers. Papers should primarily address one or more of the following topics: (1) China's perspective on Sino-Japanese Rivalry on the Global Level; (2) China's perspective on Sino-Japanese Rivalry in Southeast Asia/Pacific; (3) China's perspective on Sino-Japanese Rivalry in Europe; or (4) Sino-Japanese Rivalry and North America. Papers concentrating on other world regions will also be considered.

 

Abstracts of 300 words maximum, including name, institutional affiliation, the title of the paper, email address, should be sent by May 15, 2015, to sino.japanese.rivalry@gmail.com. 

 

The workshop will result in a proposal for one or two special issues with peer-reviewed journals, or an edited volume with an international publisher.

 

Financial support for travel and housing expenses might be provided under the condition of availability of funding.

 

Sincerely,

 

Verena Blechinger-Talcott, Nissim Otmazgin, Kai Schulze