GW Prof.: China’s Soft Power Limited And Declining

An ongoing series of speakers kicked off its schedule Wednesday night with distinguished GW Prof. David Shambaugh speaking to interested students, faculty, and members of the community about China’s declining soft power and global strategies of international influence.
Speaking to an audience of about 90 people in the Elliott School, China’s soft power, their ability to shape the preferences of international audiences by co-option rather than coercion, Prof. Shambaugh explained, is weak and in decline.
“China has a mixed global perception in polls,” with human rights violations, such as Tibet and the treatment of ethnic Uyghurs, dragging down many polls, Mr. Shambaugh stated.
He explained that both governmental campaigns, such as the distribution of carefully phrased slogans relating to peace (“China’s Peaceful Rise”) and nongovernmental ventures, such as increased tourism and more Chinese students studying abroad, have failed to stem the decline in the perception of China.
Recognized as a leader in his field, Mr. Shambaugh’s experiences of the last year in China as a Fulbright Scholar, his past position as editor of The China Quarterly, his Senior Fellowship with The Brookings Institution, and the Director of the China Policy Program here at GW, were on clear display Wednesday night.
When discussing how to resolve China’s declining influence problem, Mr. Shambaugh stated that though they possess “enormous resources,” China has “no real strategy.” They need to “get out of the way of society” and get rid of their “inept public diplomacy.” “China’s soft power,” he concluded, “is much more fiction than fact.”

Son of Late Shah of Iran Visits GW

The International Affairs Society hosted Reza Pahlavi, former crown prince of Iran, in the Elliot School of International Affairs building Tuesday night for a discussion on the current tumultuous state of his home country and the need for reform. While living in exile, Pahlavi has devoted his life to speaking out against the tyrannical regime currently in power in Iran.

Pahlavi emphasized the importance of regime change led by the Iranian people without foreign military assistance. He compared the situation to apartheid in South Africa and the solidarity movement in Poland.

Pahlavi claimed to notice a change in the tone of the Iranian public following the recent election fraud. He said the event showed the true colors of both the corrupt regime and the fed up people who took to the streets in protest. He also noted the importance of Obama as a figure of influence in the youth-driven movement for change in Iran. Whereas past failure to mobilize against the current radical government stemmed from a lack of organization, Pahlavi sees public resistance moving in a new direction.

"Our unity will expediate our salvation," he said."

Pahlavi mentioned his own personal connection to the GW community; his wife attended the university for both undergraduate and law school.

He finished his comments with an appeal for a peaceful transfer of power in Iran achieved by a popular movement, receiving a standing ovation from the packed room.

-Joseph Rabinowitz

Elliott School Launches Major Research Initiative

Elliott School dean Michael Brown announced the launch of his school's Rising Powers Initiative Tuesday, bringing over 25 professors together to form an inquest into the foreign policy debates and shifting identities of countries across Asia.

The initiative, being run out of the Elliott School's Sigur Center for Asian Studies, is funded by two independent grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the MacArthur Foundation.

The Carnegie Corporation's project, titled "Worldview of Aspiring Powers Abroad," seeks to promote a greater understanding of the domestic debates over foreign policy in China, India, Russia, Japan, and Iran.

The project asserts that, despite their increasing importance, there is a lack of understanding of these discourses in both the American Media and academic sphere,and aims to promote their incorporation into American discussions on foreign policy and security. Elliott School professors Henry Nau and Deepa Ollapally will be jointly directing the research.

The second project, sponsored by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, focuses on predicting how international relations between Asian states will evolve in the future. Will Asia, like Europe, embark on a trend towards integration and cooperation, or will it return to the era of security tensions and interstate war? Professors Mike Mochizuki and Deepa Ollapally will lead a team of researchers to investigate this topic in their "Power and Identity in Asia" project.

Headlining Tuesday's launch was a lecture by Peter Katzenstein, prolific author and professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics at Cornell University. Katzenstein's talk, "Reflections on Identity, Security, and the U.S. Role in Asia" focused on the importance of Asian state's self-perceptions in determining their foreign policy, and that the United States must seek to place its own foreign policy in this context.

The initiative has already hosted a conference in New Delhi, India, on that growing state's foreign policy dynamics, and will be hosting another gathering in China next month.

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Journalistic Challenges

The Institute for Security and Conflict Studies hosted a forum titled “The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: The Journalistic Challenges” on Monday in the Elliott School of International Affairs. The Washington Post’s Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Ann Scott Tyson and the New York Times’s Michael R. Gordon joined moderator Marc Lynch, the director of GW’s Institute for Middle East to discuss the challenges that face journalists covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The reporters spoke of the surprising level of access embedded journalists have to many levels of military personnel and operations. But they also stressed the danger of their situations, as well as the difficulty of gaining access to the Iraqi and Afghan people and government officials. Their narratives covered topics from the intensity of firefights to the tragedy of losing a colleague to kidnapping or murder. The reporters made it clear that war reporting is not at all similar to reporting domestically.

This forum sparked a discussion on the role that the media often takes, of analysts. The panelists agreed that journalists provide intriguing perspectives on and incites into the causes and effects of wartime conflicts, especially when they are able to get truthful opinions from otherwise recalcitrant citizens.

Marc Lynch, in concluding the forum, remarked that we cannot form national opinions or construct security policy on reporting alone. The panelists had varied reactions to this, Gordon perhaps most strongly. Ultimately the speakers agreed that media does have, at the very least, a significant role in shaping the national conscious and some policy. However, Lynch stressed there must be a clear distinction between journalists and policy-makers.

On a more editorial note, international conflicts are never as simple as journalists often paint them - either by necessity or by choice - in order to more aptly appeal to their audiences. Gordon especially focused on the difference between reporters actually working overseas and those reporting from their offices here in the U.S. The perspectives and the knowledge gained from each foster opposing opinions that have contributed to the confusion of finding a solution for an already complicated situation. Ending these wars is likely not as simple as pulling the troops out; nor is increasing troop unequivocally the most effective way to “win” the war.

This discussion may continue on in the public sphere, especially within the media, but the decisions will ultimately be made by policy-makers. Hopefully those policy-makers will take some of what these reporters have learned into consideration when these decisions must be made. The intention of these journalists to learn and tell the true opinions of Iraqi and Afghan citizens, as well as the stories of the American troops, has been vital to obtaining the whole picture of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


More Information
- Marc Lynch's post on the discussion: http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/01/war_reporting
- Michael Gordon's articles for the New York Times: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/g/michael_r_gordon/index.html
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran's articles for the Washington Post: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/rajiv+chandrasekaran/
- Ann Scott Tyson's articles for the Washington Post: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/ann+scott+tyson/

Sen. John Kerry to Discuss Climate Change at GW

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry will give a keynote address at a conference discussing the connection between climate change and national security this Thursday September 10 at the Elliot School of International Affairs.

“The Day Before: A Conference on the National Security Implications of Climate Change" kicks off at 8:45 am with panels and discussions. Senator Kerry will speak from 11:30 - 12:30pm.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. RSVP to rsvpesia@gwu.edu.

SA Senate Candidate Soham Gupte on WRGW News at 6

Elliot School of International Affairs Senate Candidate Soham Gupte sat with WRGW's Shawn Wills and Jesse Regis to discuss his platform. Click the link below to hear the conversation.

Soham Gupte on WRGW News at 6