On June 1, 2017, the Graduate School of International Relations organized a special lecture entitled "Politics and Security overseas Business of Chinese Companies" by Dr. Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
Dr. Patey, explained what kind of challenges Chinese companies are facing and how they are dealing with them referring to multiple examples in Africa, Latin America and Europe.

According to Dr. Patey, when Chinese companies encounter difficulties overseas, their reactions can be categorized into three: adapting to the situation; negotiating to accommodate the local needs; and limiting their overseas business.

In the Q and A session, lively discussions were exchanged among Dr. Pate some 35 graduate students and researchers attended on such topics as the relationship between the Chinese companies and local government and people, the strategy of the Chinese government, the relationship with the Chinese “One Belt, One Road” initiative, the relationship between private and public companies, the particularity as well as the generalizability of the cases referred in the lecture, and the situation of the countries accepting Chinese companies and investments.

On May 25, 2017, the Graduate School of International Relations hold a special lecture entitled "Reconsidering Soft Power in the Uncertain World" by Professor Gary Rawnsley from Aberystwyth University,UK which is famous for having the world's oldest international relations department .
Professor Rawnsley, after pointing out that the current ambiguous definition and measurement method of “Soft Power” is the cause of many problems, emphasized the importance of focusing on the impact, rather than output, of the “Soft Power”. In addition, he insisted that it is essential to analyze the aspect of power of the “Soft Power.”

The message of his lecture was quite clear, as he used a lot of concreate examples during his theoretical explanation. During the Q and A session following the lecture, participants, graduate students and faculty, actively discussed the nature of soft power and how to generate “Soft Power” both in Japan and UK.

Short Report of Open Seminar (12/23/2016):

Speaker: Dr. Shogo Suzuki, Senior Lecturer, the Department of Politics, the University of Manchester. UK.

This seminar highlighted the politics of history regarding comfort women. As what the country should remember and forget is a political issue, this seminar discussed the dynamics of the Taiwan ‘Comfort Women’ Case, focused especially on the competition to attain justice for the past wrongs in Taiwan. 

Departing from the arguments that identity politics in Taiwan have overshadowed the campaign to achieve justice for the comfort women, the comfort women issue gets rejected as the drive to construct the Taiwanese's identity separate from China has led to the crime committed by mainlander Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, or KMT). In conclusion, the comfort women issue turned into inward-looking debates over national identity, distracting the political momentum necessary to bring about justice successfully. National politicians in Taiwan, in fact, tend to politize the comfort woman issue in the national political game rather than attaining the justice for the victims.

This seminar was held in Ritsumeikan University - Kinugasa Campus, on December 23, 2016, hosted by College of International Relations Ritsumeikan University and Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Approximately 30 participants attended the seminar.

Short Report of Open Seminar (12/9/2016):

Speaker:

Dr. Marcus Mietzner. Associate Professor at the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.

This seminar discussed the changing dynamic of contemporary Indonesian politics. The seminar focused on how Indonesian President Joko Widodo, or Jokowi, turned from a seemingly unassailable into a vulnerable president. Previously, President Jokowi appeared to have consolidated his power in the arenas of elite contestation, public opinion, and a sizeable majority in parliament.  However, hundreds of thousands of Muslim protesters demonstrated against Jokowi's ally in the Jakarta governor election, Basuki Tjahja Purnama in November and December 2016 shook Jokowi's presidency to its core. The outcome of the conflicts emerging from it remains uncertain, and it seems likely means for the 2019 elections.

This seminar was held in Ritsumeikan University - Kinugasa Campus, on December 9, 2016, hosted by College of International Relations Ritsumeikan University and Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) and Institute of International Relations and Area Studies.  Approximately 40 participants attended the seminar.

Open Lecture

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Yusuke　Takagi

Assistant Professor, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS)

In this seminar, the speaker, Dr. Yusuke Takagi presented on how to make a research paper. In his lecture, he introduced his experience of literature review and fieldworks in Philippine. Most of audience is graduate students who will write master thesis. They eagerly listen to the seminar which is useful for their academic achievements.

This Open Lecture was held at Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, on November 25, 2016, hosted by Ritsumeikan University's Graduate School of International Relations and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Approximately 20 participants attended the seminar.

Open Lecture

Guest Speaker: Tsuneko Ipp. A Certified Tourist Guide, Austria.

The lecture introduced the life of Bertha von Suttner, the first woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. The presenter explained Suttner’s eventful life with pictures, which includes an episode meeting Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize. Thanks to the detailed explanation and plenty of pictures which trace the life of Suttner, the audience came to a deep understanding how Suttner became a peace activist and why she wrote her famous novel, Lay Down Your Arms (Die Waffen Nieder). In the end, the presenter introduced the hundredth anniversary of the Peace Palace in Hague in 2013 and emphasized that Suttner’s wish has been inherited by peace activists in the world

This Open Lecture was held at Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, on November 18, 2016, hosted by Ritsumeikan University's Graduate School of International Relations and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Approximately 20 participants attended the training.

Open Lecture

Guest Speaker: Slavica Ninic. Ph.D. Student in Graduate School of Law, Kobe University, Japan.

The lecture figured out the big picture of methodological aspects in conducting a research. In particular, the presenter underlined steps and challenges mainly faced by many researchers from the scratch to the publication process. Based on the experiences in doing the research about Gender Policies in the Japanese Armed Forces, the audiences may learn not only the content of the research but also the lessons from all the steps of the research process. In the end, the participants were expected to grasp the whole picture of the research route in Social Sciences.

This Open Lecture was held at Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, on November 11, 2016, hosted by Ritsumeikan University's Graduate School of International Relations and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Approximately 20 participants attended the training.

Short Report of Open Seminar (11/4/2016):

Speaker:

Dr. Nino Viartasiwi

This seminar identified notorious communal violence taking form in tribal wars in some areas of West Papua region of Indonesia.

Although the long going communal violence has taken casualties both in the kind of loss of lives and properties, however, the government has been unenthusiastic to tame the violence under the pretext that tribal war is a conflict settlement mechanism inherent in the West Papua's aboriginal culture. This presentation answers questions as follows: in a democratic country what is the border of indigenous rights to exercise the customary practices? What is the obligation of the government toward aboriginal communities? The presentation concludes that the government choice of action to allow tribal wars is equal with state violence by manipulating the native customary to commit violence against the tribal communities.

This seminar was held in Ritsumeikan University - Kinugasa Campus, on November 4, 2016, hosted by College of International Relations Ritsumeikan University and Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Approximately 20 participants attended the seminar.

What is DMDP ?

DMDP is designed for MA students and an innovative program in which students can obtain Master's degree from two academic institutions in as short as two years by spending one year at each institution. This highly-acclaimed program aims to train students who can play a leading role in the field of international cooperation and global governance.

It is a great honor to announce that we, the Graduate School of International Relations have signed a DMDP agreement with the College of International Affairs, National Chengchi University, Taiwan(NCCU).

NCCU is one of the best universities not only in Taiwan but also in the world.  The College of International Affairs is well known as a graduate school from which many diplomats have graduated.

Generally, RU students will, after entering RU in April, spend their first semester (spring) at RU. After completing their first semester, students will study abroad in Taiwan for one year at NCCU, beginning in fall semester. Then they will come back to RU and spend the last semester (their 4^th semester) at RU and graduate in March. They will have to fulfill degree requirements from each school to earn a MA degree from both.

Under this agreement between RU and NCCU, RU students will only need to pay tuition fees to RU. NCCU tuition fees will be waived.*

* Students will be responsible for any other expenses incurred while studying abroad such as rent, travel and living expenses should be paid by students.

Short Report of Open Seminar (10/21/2016):

Guest Speakers:

Dr. Ryan Manuel, a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World, The Australian National University; and Shu Cheng (Will) Zou, currently a Monbukagakusho scholarship research student studying in the Department of Area Studies (China) at the University of Tokyo.

This seminar highlights how the Xi Jinping administration has changed China’s foreign policy rhetoric and focus. The seminar critically examines the idea that Xi’s foreign policy is more “Confucian” than previous administrations, as well as commenting on the geographic direction, ideology, and policy implications of Xi’s foreign policy shift.

This seminar was held in Ritsumeikan University - Kinugasa Campus, on October 21, 2016, hosted by Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, and Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). Co-Hosts: The China Diplomacy Research Group “Aspects of the Strengthening of China” Research Project, Institute of International Relations and Area Studies, Ritsumeikan University; Asia-Japan Research Institute. University’ and the Australian Centre on China in the World, the Australian National University.

Approximately 45 participants attended the seminar.

Short Report of Open Seminar (10/7/2016):

Moving to a Full-fledge ASEAN Security and Political Community (APSC)

Guest Speaker: Dr. Agus Trihartono, Senior Researcher, Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO), Ritsumeikan University

This seminar attempts to see to what extent the role of ASEAN Way (among others) in influencing the ASEAN Cooperation.It also tries to find out the ASEAN Way compatibility in the current situation and its prospect. In particular, the seminar answers such questions as follows:  How does ASEAN go about achieving that ultimate transformation of the APSC? Do ASEAN previous norms, such as non-interference and sovereignty fit in ASEAN current requirements to a full-fledged political-security community? Is ASEAN Way obsolete? The conclusion is that ASEAN Way may be the strength of ASEAN’s Past, but it seems likely to be the Weakness of ASEAN’s Present.

This seminar was held in Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, on October 7, 2016, hosted by Ritsumeikan University's Graduate School of International Relations and the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO), Approximately 20 participants attended the seminar.