News
2020.09.22
Commencement Ceremony held
On September 22nd, the commencement ceremony of the College and Graduate School of IR was held.
In total, 58 students graduated from the College of International Relations and 43 from the Graduate School of International Relations.
In the university-wide ceremony, JOE Tien Ce (GS Major) made a speech as the representative of all graduates. In the College/Graduate School of IR ceremony, LOO Shyue Tyng(GS major) and GINA Aghnia Virginianty (Graduate School of IR) made speeches.
JOE Tien Ce and YEO Yume were awarded by the Dean for their excellent work on their graduation theses.Graduates will work internationally and domestically, and continue their studies at graduate schools like Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University and other international/Japanese institutions like Kyoto University, LSE and George Washington University. Mr. Yoshimaru from the Alumni Association, the Deans of the College and Graduate School of IR sent messages for graduates.
Graduates, Congratulations !
2020.09.16
Changes in Application Guidelines for April 2021 Enrollment (December Admissions) Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University
2020.09.01
AY2020 Application for "Post-master's Research Student & Doctoral Research Student"
We'd like to inform you about the application guideline for "Post-master's Research Student & Doctoral Research Student".
Application Period:
1) Applying for spring semester enrollment/ the whole academic year: (Fri) Mar 6, 2020 – (Fri) Mar 13, 2020 10am-5pm
2) Applying for fall semester enrollment: (Mon) Sep 7, 2020 – (Mon) Sep 14, 2020 10am-5pm
Application Form:
AY 2020 Post-Master’s Research Student / Doctoral Research Student Application Guidelines
"Post-master's Research Student & Doctoral Research Student" System is a system for graduates of our graduate schools to continue doing research at our facilities.
Post-master's Research Student and Doctoral research student cannot receive research instruction from faculty.
If you would like to apply, please submit application documents to IR office.
Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.
Best regards,
2020.07.01
Mon, July 6, Ms. PHAM THI PHUONG THAO The Final Doctoral Dissertation Defense
The Public Oral Examination of Doctoral Dissertation
For those who wish to attend “The Public Oral Examination of Doctoral Dissertation”
As part of the COVID-19 guidelines, please be advised that all attendees need to make reservations in advance this time.
Advance Reservation (by email only):
Please provide your name, email address, mobile phone number by email at
ir-adm@st,ritsumei.ac.jp with the subject line, “The Public Oral Examination of Doctoral Dissertation”.(*If you are a student at Ritsumeikan University, also kindly provide your student ID #, faculty and Graduate school name )
Deadline:
Friday, July 3rd, 2020 11am (Japan time)
Confirmation (By email):
The confirmation email will be sent out from the GSIR office after July 3rd, 2020 afternoon.
Note:
We accept advance reservations only.
If the number of applications exceeds the spaces available for students, a random lottery will be held.
Since we need to continue to follow public health directives for gathering and social distancing, and also all attendees will be requested to wear a mask on campus, also hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance for attendees.
Seat Assignments:
In order to allow people to keep their distance in the class room, we encourage to stay socially distant from others.
Ritsumeikan University
Graduate School of International Relations2020.06.30
Changes in Application Guidelines for April 2021 Enrollment (September Admissions) Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University
2020.04.15
Important Notice for GSIR Applicants (for Fall 2020 Entry)
Given the “Declaration of a state of emergency” by a government, the Ritsumeikan Trust has decided to take the measure of prohibiting entry to the campuses from Wednesday, April 8, 2020 - Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
Along with this measure, all faculties work from home and any call to the Office of Graduate Studies can’t be answered during the above period, thereby in-person application submission is not possible for the following three admissions (Fall 2020 Entry) at the Graduate School of International Relations. Please use postal mail for sending your application documents within the due date.
- Regular Admissions for English-based Programs (Document Only)
Application Period; Wednesday, April 1, 2020–Wednesday, April 22, 2020
- Regular Admissions for Japanese-based Programs (Document Only)
Application Period; Wednesday, April 1, 2020–Wednesday, April 22, 2020
- Regular Admissions for Master's Degree Holders
Application Period; Wednesday, April 1, 2020–Wednesday, April 22, 2020
If you have any questions, please contact to us by email.
Mail: ir-adm@st.ritsumei.ac.jp
Administrative Office
Graduate School of International Relations
2020.01.24
Notice on IR Office Hours during Spring breaks
2020.3.2
Notice：Regarding cancellation of Ritsumeikan University Commencement Ceremonies, Academic Year 2019, and Ritsumeikan University Matriculation Ceremony, Academic Year 2020
2020.02.03
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 The Head, Korea and Mongolia Department, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Alexander V. Vorontsov gives a special workshop
Wednesday, January 22, 2020 The Head, Korea and Mongolia Department, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Alexander V. Vorontsov gives a special workshop in the Kinugasa Campus, Kyoto.
Dr. Vorontsov and participants discussed the topic of “The Current North Korea Issue”.
Dr. Vorontsov was asked a topic of North Korean Nuclear Issue, he mentioned that we need to discuss the North Korean Nuclear issue from historical background and discussed the US-North Korea relationship from the Korean War to the present. He referred to opinions from the North Korean point of view that North Korea has recognized the recent Korea Peninsula issue in a long term history, not just in recent years.
The Russian Academy of Sciences is the highest research institute of Russia and Dr. Vorontsov is a top of the Korean Studies researcher in Russia. He writes for the Russian media “SPUTNIK”, and not only Russia, but also research paper and conference of the United States, South Korea and Japan. He worked at the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang from 2000 to 2002, studied at the Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang and has visited Pyongyang a few times a year for research.
Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University and the Ritsumeikan Center for East Asian Peace and Cooperation are to produce results that are higher international standards of the East Asia Studies, and offer a variety of conferences and workshops on a regular basis.
2020.01.14
Former UN Under-Secretary-General Mr. Yasushi Akashi on UN Policy making
2020.01.07
AY2020 Ritsumeikan University Graduate School Readmission Examination Guidelines (Spring/Fall)
2019.12.26
Mon, January 20, Mr. CHO Chanhyun The Final Doctoral Dissertation Defense
2019.12.23
International Workshop for Young Africanists（December 21 (Sat.), 2019,）
2019.12.18
Fri, January 24, Ms. LEE Sunyoung The Final Doctoral Dissertation Defense
2019.12.17
Thu, December 26, Ms. RIKA KURNIATY The Final Doctoral Dissertation Defense
2019.12.09
Special Lecture: “Is chess a fitting or a misleading metaphor/analogy/model for understanding strategic interactions in international relations?”
Special Lecture:
“Is chess a fitting or a misleading metaphor/analogy/model
for understanding strategic interactions in international relations?”
Talk by: Visiting Professor KOPPER Ákos from Eötvös Loránd University (Head of Department of International Relations and European Studies), Budapest (Hungary)
On November 13th 2019, Professor Kopper gave a special lecture at the College of International Relations of Ritsumeikan University about the potential and limitation of chess for serving as an explanatory model of international relations. International society is highly complex, and it needs a model to describe its various manifestations. Chess has been frequently used as a potential model for the illustration of international conditions, yet its limitation in doing so has not been sufficiently investigated yet. Professor Kopper in his lecture addressed this limitation by discussing the role of chess as a demonstrative tool for the study of international relations. In doing so, Professor Kopper first provided various examples of how chess, along with its diverse forms in history, had been used for the study of international relations. Thereafter he discussed its potential and limitation for international relation studies, by having recourse to three different approaches: chess as a metaphor, chess as an analogy, and chess as a model. As argued in the lecture, each of these three approaches has a different degree of explanatory power about, or in other words expressive modes of, reality: metaphors having the least and models having the strongest explanatory power. Through a careful consideration of the three approaches, Professor Kopper concluded that it was not possible to grasp the entire complexity of international society through chess moves, either as a metaphor or as an analogy or as a model. Yet, as also argued in the lecture, it is possible to throw light upon certain aspects of the actual conditions of international relations, by employing chess-pieces for, for instance, political cartoons.
Professor Kopper’s lecture contributed to the study of the core research subject of the College of International Relations to a great extent. This could be seen through both the large number of questions raised by the audience and their written comments collected after his lecture. Though a powerful explanatory model is yet to come, this special lecture provided an inspiring atmosphere for future research directions.
See a related article written by Professor Kopper for further details:
Akos, Kopper, What Image Does IR Project? Chess, A Visual Metaphor for IR (2017) International Studies Review, Vol. 19(3): 337–361
2019.12.06
Special Lecture: “Managing Reputation for Organizational Survival: Cases of Initial Involvement by the UNHCR in Issues of Internally Displaced Persons”
Professor Akahoshi’s lecture presentation comprised three parts. First, he introduced his research on the UNCHR involvement in the IDP (internally displaced persons) issue in two cases: South Sudan and South Vietnam. Next, he explained his choice of multi-archival research as the main method of data collection. Finally, he invited students to ask him questions regarding his research.
He started with reminding the listeners of the UNCHR mandate to protect refugees and brought up international definitions of refugees and IDPs. Although both categories leave their places of residence and flee to avoid the armed conflict, the main difference between refugees and IDPs lies in crossing internationally recognized state borders. Originally, the UNCHR mandate protected only those who crossed the state borders but eventually, it was expanded to include IDPs. Therefore, Prof. Akahoshi’s main empirical question is ‘Why did the UNCHR decide to get involved in IDP case, beyond its mandate?’ Based on that, he developed a theoretical question: ‘Under what conditions does an IGO change its behavior?’ He attempted to answer both questions using two case studies in late 1960s. In case of South Sudan, the UNHCR chose to help IDPs while in case of South Vietnam, it didn’t get involved. He became curious why the UNCHR had such a different response to seemingly similar cases.
The previous research didn’t compare the two cases but treated each of them individually. To explore the factors that caused the IGO change its behavior, Prof. Akahoshi applied existing empirical literature to his case studies. Examining literature based on the realism tradition, he came up with factors as power, interest and idea. Based on liberalism theory, he looked into collective principals and proximate principals as possible explanations. Finally, he explored structural factors based on constructivism theory: e.g. functional approach, regime complexity and IGO’s characteristics. However, he found that none of the factors could answer his research questions.
Being interested in theory building through a case study, Prof. Akahoshi proceeded to heuristic/plausibility probe to theory-testing. As IDP assistance was out-of-mandate issue for the UNHCR, the organization had to justify its activity to member states in the Executive Committee and General Assembly. Therefore, Prof. Akahoshi further narrowed down his research question to the following: ‘How did the UNHCR interpret issues on IDPs? Especially, how did the UNHCR connect the issues to its mandate?’ To answer these questions, he started archival research in the UNHCR Records and Archives in Geneva, the US National Archives and the UK National Archives.
Assistance to South Vietnamese IDPs was requested by the Chief of the US Senate Subcommittee of Refugees Edward Kennedy who was concerned that without humanitarian assistance, those people might become active agents against the United States. He requested Sadruddhin Aga Khan, the High Commissioner for Refugees who was his classmate at Harvard University to get involved in the IDP issues in South Vietnam. However, the UNHCR clearly rejected the US request and their interpretation of IDPs as refugees. Instead, Khan offered to loan or second personnel to either US AID or South Vietnamese government seeing no problem of criticism as long as the personnel are not under the UNHCR label or control.
In case of South Sudanese IDPs, the assistance was requested by the Sudanese government that initiated the repatriation of refugees to Sudan, and the UNHCR provided Sudanese refugees in Uganda, Kenya, and Central African Republic with humanitarian assistance. In addition to refugees, there were 0.5 million IDPs in southern regions of Sudan, and the UNHCR committed to help them as well. Based on his analysis of archival documents. Prof. Akahoshi argues that Sudanese government and the UNHCR had agreed interpretations for IDP assistance: they both considered IDP assistance as a part of refugee protection.
According to Prof. Akahoshi, the theoretical implications of those two case studies lie in managing reputation for organizational survival. Most prior studies have focused on state reputation and its use by NGOs in ‘naming and shaming’ strategies to influence the state behavior. However, relatively few studies (Carpenter 2010; Barnett and Finnemore 2004) explored the role of reputation for international organizations. Prof. Akahoshi found that the UNHCR justified its involvement or non-involvement in IDP issues using principles of organizational neutrality, and ‘guilt by association’. The UNHCR attempted to hide its label in South Vietnamese case, while the situation in Sudan was seen as an opportunity for the UNCHR to expand its activities into Africa and prove its efficiency to African member states. Prof. Akahoshi concluded that the driver of the UNHCR change was its reputational management, i.e. organizational attempts to enhance or not to undermine its reputation.
Regarding his method of data collection, Prof. Akahoshi stressed the lack of studies based on archival materials of the UNHCR. The UNHCR Archives were opened for the public in 1996 by the High Commissioner Sadako Ogata who used to be a diplomatic historian and understood the importance of archival study. However, they observe a 20-year rule meaning that current issues cannot be researched in the archives. Prof. Akahoshi explained about the structure of the UNHCR Archives and types of documents to be found there. He encouraged students to go to archives as a treasure hunt: not only the UNHCR but also other international organizations (WFP, ILO, IOM, etc.). By combining research in national archives and IGO archives, Prof. Akahoshi was able to cross-check the information and enhance validity of his findings.
The Q&A session involved questions regarding his experience conducting archival research, the role of the main donors to the UNHCR during 1960s, the role of the Cold War confrontation in explaining the UNHCR behavior in providing IDP assistance, relation between IDP protection and refugee issue.
2019.12.06
Wed, December 25, Mr. IKOMA Tomokazu The Final Doctoral Dissertation Defense
2019.12.02
Exploring Future Careers in International Organizations: College of IR Hosted “OECD Career Fair”
On Nov 28th, the College of International Relations and Career Center at Ritsumeikan University hosted the “OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) Career Fair” on Kinugasa campus.
Executive Director Josée Touchette and Sam Holland, Talent Management Analyst at the OECD traveled from Paris, the hometown of their organization and gave a special career guidance session for Ritsumeikan students.
Over 30 students from the Graduate School and College of International Relations, including Japanese and international students from various countries, joined the seminar. Students learned about the history and structure of the OECD, as well as the various opportunities for getting a position in the organization, like the Young Professional Programme, Young Associate Programme, and internship. After the lecture, students lined up to ask many questions and to request advice on their future career.
Many graduates from Ritsumeikan University are now working in international organizations, and Kinugasa campus has hosted various sessions on organizations like the World Bank and the United Nations.
2019.11.14
Special Lecture: "Do We Really Know Trump? This is How Japanese Mainstream Media Spread Untrue Stories"
Mr. Tateiwa’s lecture chronicled his experience and intimate knowledge of the inner workings of investigative journalism and his search for truth as he delved deeper into Japanese mainstream media coverage of headlining topics such as United States President Donald Trump’s ascendancy into office and his involvements in the Korean Peninsula issue. During the process, he noted the propensity of Japanese mainstream media outlets for painting out-of-context and incomplete pictures of speeches and statements, as well as a notorious lack of clarity regarding sources. Mr. Tateiwa’s episodes and anecdotes from his stay at Trump Hotel in Washington DC and Pyongyang illustrates the need to go beyond the smoke screen and look closer to gain a more complete grasp of the situation on the field. He also lamented the fact that Japanese mainstream media often leans towards reporting international news only when it is directly connected to Japanese interests. All of these factors contribute to the misleading tendencies of Japanese mainstream media coverage, which brought about the demand for fact-checking mechanisms such as The Washington Post’s fact checker as well as PolitiFact. However, adapting such fact-checking mechanism to Japan comes with its own set of challenges, which necessitates the modification of truth-or-false scale to make it more “polite” to avoid offending people implicated in the news and hence more suitable to Japanese journalistic culture.
Lastly, Mr. Tateiwa reinforced the importance of cooperation and networking with an international cadre of fellow investigative journalists, not only to exchange information or discuss how other journalists might approach a particular news, but also to share best practices to ensure a more impartial and accurate news coverage. He then proceeded to field several questions from several students in the audience before wrapping up the lecture amidst boisterous applause from the crowd.