Other News

Twelve undergraduate students from PAIS have just been published in the October issue of the Reinvention journal. Their articles featured in a special section on 'COVID-19 and The International Political Economy of Everyday Life' and were each co-authored with a student from Monash University, Australia. The publication was part of the Global Groupwork project funded by the Monash Warwick Alliance Education Fund.

https://reinventionjournal.org/index.php/reinvention/index

Congratulations to Safiya Ali, who successfully defended her thesis on 27 October. Safiya's PhD was titled 'Supranational Law, State Sovereignty and Regional Integration: The Caribbean Court of Justice and the Evolution of the Caribbean Community' and was passed with minor corrections. The supervisors were Ben Richardson (PAIS) and James Harrison (Law), and the examiners Mikael Madsen (Law, Copenhagen) and Tom Long (PAIS, Warwick).

Well done Safiya!

22nd October will mark the anniversary of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the most significant event in the Chinese political calendar which decides policy and membership of the Chinese government for the next 5 years. In this talk, will be exploring the different impacts and implications of the 20th National Congress to understand its relevance for China and the broader region.

Date: Thursday, 26/10/2023

Time: 16:15-17:30

Venue: R1.15, Ramphal Building

Dr Seb Rumsby is an interdisciplinary scholar with a wide range of interests including everyday politics, labour exploitation, undocumented migration, ethno-religious politics, grassroots development and non-national histories. Seb unites these diverse themes with an empirical focus on Southeast Asian worlds and people. He completed his PhD at University of Warwick's Department for Politics and International Studies in 2020, before lecturing in Southeast Asian Politics and Queen Mary University of London. He is now a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at University of Birmingham.

His talk is based on his recently published book Development in Spirit: Religious Transformation and Everyday Politics in Vietnam's Highlands. The effects of development and nation-building projects are always felt unevenly, especially by marginalised communities. But these communities do not lack agency in this process. How do they participate in, negotiate, or resist state-led development? And what role do everyday religious and spiritual practices play therein? In his important new book, Development in Spirit, Seb Rumsby offers an original perspective on how the Hmong communities in the Vietnamese highlands have responded to development initiatives. Centring the everyday political, economic, and religious practices of local residents, Rumsby shows that Christianisation has opened a route to ‘unplanned development’ that put the Hmong on a trajectory both of formal integration into the economy and resistance to state authority and religious persecution.

Date: Tuesday, 17/10/2023
Time: 16:15-17:30
Venue: Zeeman Building, Room A1.01

Dr. Chester Cabalza is the Founding President of the Manila-based think tank, International Development and Security Cooperation (IDSC). He served as Vice President for Research and Strategic Studies at the Development Academy of the Philippines. He is a Professor of National Security at the National Defense College of the Philippines and Professor of Anthropology at the University of the Philippines. He became a Consultant of the World Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency. Dr. Cabalza enjoyed Fellowships at the National Defence University in China and the University of Delaware in the United States. He was conferred as Scientist by the Department of Science and Technology. Prof Cabalza co-authored books on The Rise of Philippinedization: Philippinedization is not Finlandization (2021) and Perspectives on Terrorism in the Philippines (2019). He has an upcoming book on The New Middle Powers of Southeast Asia (2023).

Dr. Cabalza’s talk on “What Does the Philippines Want? Protecting the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea” explores the South China Sea issue from the Philippines’ perspective. An important and fascinating case study of a middle power trying to negotiate its independent national goals between two great powers.

The talk will be held online, for an invitation, please contact the EASG email account: easg@warwick.ac.uk

Date: 12/10/2023
Time: 9:15-10:30 (BST)
Venue: Online (Zoom)
If interested in attending, please follow the link and contact the EASG for an invite.