From July 24 to 28, visiting professor TAKASU Yukio taught a seminar for students in the Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR). 1st year student DERRY Aplianta (Indonesia) comments "the class gave a lot of insight about the United Nations with the lecturer's remarkable expertise in both diplomacy and international organization. I highly recommend the class to graduate students of International Relations." The seminar entitled "International Relations" targeted both international and Japanese students, studies roles of International Organizations, functioning of UN system and global governance. Professor TAKASU serves as Under-Secretary-General, United Nations.　He has taught at the Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University from 2011.

Please visit the GSIR website is here
https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/gsir/

On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Visiting Professor Heikki Patomäki had a special seminar titled
"The Future of Global Governance" sponsored by the Graduate School of International Relations. Many faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students attended this seminar and actively participated in a question and answer session.

Visiting Professor Heikki Patomäki,is Professor of World Politics at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Previously he has also worked as a Professor of World Politics and Economy at the Nottingham Trent University, UK, and RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Professor Patomäki’s research interests include philosophy and methodology of social sciences, peace research, futures studies, economic theory, global political economy, and global political theory. His most recent books are The Anatomy of the Euro Crisis. What Will Come After Globalisation? (Into, 2012, in Finnish; Zed Books edition in English forthcoming in December 2012); and The Political Economy of Global Security. War, Future Crises and Changes in Global Governance (Routledge, 2008). He is currently working on two new books, Unprincipled Economics (with Jamie Morgan) and Global Futures. Professor Patomäki is a founding member of NIGD (Network Institute for Global Democratisation) and has also been an activist in the international ATTAC movement from its inception, currently chairing ATTAC Finland. In the 2011 Finnish Parliamentary elections, Patomäki stood as a candidate for the Left Alliance.

Dean James Goldgeier and Associate Dean Leeanne Dunsmore,
 School of International Service, American University (*1) visited Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University, on Monday, June 18, 2012, and the Dean held a special lecture titled 'Democrats, Republicans and the Politics of U.S. Foreign Policy’.
The lecture focused on the trends in the Democratic and Republican parties since the end of the Cold War and its impacts on U.S. presidential election.
The　GSIR students and faculty members gathered to listen to the Dean's talk, and the number of participants almost reached the full capacity (of 207 seats) of the lecture room. The lecture ended on a high note with a Q&A session.
After the lecture‚ we had a talking session with the Dean and the Associate Dean and actively exchanged the views and opinions on the topics covered in the Dean’s special lecture.

*Founded in 1893, American University is located in the northwest Washington D.C. School of International Service, American University (SIS, AU) is the largest school of International Affairs in the United States and starting from 1992, a lot of students have been sent / accepted under DMDP (Dual Master’s Degree Programs) agreement between RU and AU.

DMDP (Dual Master’s Degree Programs) website : https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/gr/gsir/eng/gcp-dmdp.html

SIS, AU website: http://www.american.edu/sis/

On Wednesday, May 16, Marco van der Ree, Chief of Partnership Section, Partnerships and Communications Division in United Nation Volunteer (UNV) visited the Graduate School of International Relations where a meeting was held regarding how to strengthen our partnership.

The Graduates School has already a cooperative agreement with UNV and sent off many graduate students.   

 

ＵＮＶ  http://www.unv.org/ 

インターンシップ https://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/acd/gr/gsir/eng/gcp-internship.html

Visiting Professor Yukio Takasu, appointed as UN Under-Secretary-General for Management.
Mr. Takasu has been teaching in the Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University from 2011. From Summer 2012, he will teach the courses, “United Nations”　and “Peace Building and Preventive Diplomacy”.

Announcement from UN News Center 

Mr. Shofwan Al-Banna Choiruzzad, one of your fellow doctoral students at
Graduate School of International Relations recently won the runner up
position with his excellent work at the Reimagining Japan Student Essay
Contest.

His essay and other winners’ works can be found here:
http://nipponnomirai.jp/en/contest/index.html

Kazuo Ogura, former president of the Japan Foundation, unraveled anti-globalism in a Special Seminar called “Genealogy of Anti-Globalism,” held by the Graduate School of International Relations.　

The seminar was held on Wednesday, January 11^th. Aside from students and faculty members, approximately 150 Japan Foundation fellows from all over the world participated.

 Against a backdrop of conspicuous crises rocking the global capitalism system such as the Subprime Mortgage Crisis and European Sovereignty Crisis, anti-globalism movements like OWS (Occupy Wall Street) are becoming more conspicuous. This trend of movements, ones with strong anti-global capitalism sentiment, diverse contexts/persons affected(participants), and complicated connections with past social movements is attracting much attention.

In this seminar, former president of the Japan Foundation and expert on anti-globalism movements and trends, visiting professor Kazuo Ogura discussed the movements’ cultural characteristics, potentials and limitations. At the keynote lecture, Professor Ogura introduced a wealth of examples on anti-globalism as something embedded in the process of globalization.

In the discussion that followed, Professor Norihisa Yamashita (College of International Relations) tossed questions concerning the movements’ relationship with reflexive modernization and comparativeness to the Global Revolution of 1986. Professor GyonSu Mun (College of International Relations) also raised issues in the context of anti-globalism and anti-American movements in Korea about the pathway of East Asia in a neoliberal world.

Profile/ Kazuo Ogura

Visiting Professor of Ritsumeikan University, Graduate School of International Relations. Graduate of Tokyo University Japan and the University of Cambridge. Former president of the Japan　Foundation(2003~2011), deputy foreign minister, ambassador to Vietnam, South Korea and France, and director-general of the Economic Affairs Bureau. Professor Ogura is also the author of many books including “Globalism he no Hangyaku” (Revolt against Globalism).

Graduate School of International Relations Special Lecture

On Tuesday, June 7, the Graduate School of International Relations (GSIR) held a special seminar on development studies. Dr. Howard Nicholas from the International Institute of Social Studies, (IISS)* Erasmus University Rotterdam, gave a lecture entitled “Contrasting Development Perspectives: The North vs. the South.”

Many students as well as professors from the College of International Relations and GSIR attended the lecture and were deeply impressed by the eloquence and humor of Dr. Nicholas. Dr. Nicholas discussed the conflicting interests of advanced countries versus developing countries in the field of economic development and the shifting balance of power from West to East using Sri Lanka and China as case studies.

*IISS is a leading academic institute of development studies and one of the DMDP partner universities in the GSIR.