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121. The White Crane of Alagśa: Legends of the Sixth Dalai Lama in Mongolia

Author:
Sangseraima Ujeed and Gray Tuttle
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
The Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706/46) was recognized in secrecy, lived in controversy, and passed out of history in mystery. The popular tradition holds that he died whilst travelling to Beijing. Yet in some parts of Mongolia, it is believed that the exiled Sixth Dalai Lama escaped his captors and lived out his life in the dessert Gobi region of Alagśa, Inner Mongolia. To this day in Alagśa, the figure of the Sixth Dalai Lama still serves as a central pillar of the Alagśan identity, religion, and cultural pride among the local Mongolian population. Based on new materials in the form of oral histories, local legends, folk songs, poems, and textual sources which I collected about the Sixth Dalai Lama and the reincarnation of the Desi Sanggye Gyatso in Alagśa during a research trip in 2019, this paper will explore the formation of religio-cultural identity and the invention of tradition in the Alagśa during the early eighteenth century. This is not a paper that tries to solve the mystery of Tsangyang Gyatso’s death, but rather, one that explores the role Tsangyang Gyatso played for the Alagśa Mongols in creating narratives of identity and their realm Alagśa as an authentic Buddhist central place. This is a story of how Tsangyang Gyatso, his identities, and his interpersonal relationships were reborn in Alagśa and the role he played in consolidating Alagśa’s place within the wider geopolitical spheres of the cosmopolitan Buddhist world that spanned the Himalayas, Inner Asia, and the Qing.
Topic:
Religion, History, Geopolitics, Identity, Tradition, Dalai Lama, and Reincarnation
Political Geography:
China, Mongolia, and Asia

122. Japan’s Strategic Cooperation with NATO: Connectivity between Ukraine and Taiwan Crises

Author:
Tomonori Yoshizaki and Ayumi Teraoka
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
China’s global outreach and the War in Ukraine have pushed U.S. allies in Asia and Europe closer in recent years. Professor Tomonori Yoshizaki of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), former Vice President of the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) of the Japanese Ministry of Defense, will help us understand the motivations behind the developing ties between Japan and NATO. He will explore the prospects of their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and beyond and conclude by offering implications for the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, NATO, International Cooperation, Alliance, Crisis Management, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Japan, Europe, Taiwan, Asia, and United States of America

123. Freedom Undone: The Assault on Liberal Values and Institutions in Hong Kong

Author:
Michael Davis and Junyan Jiang
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
A lot has been written about the 2019 protests in Hong Kong and the aggressive police crackdown offered in response. Much less has been written about the more severe assault on liberal values and institutions that followed. In his new book Professor Davis takes a forensic look at both the growing Beijing intervention in Hong Kong affairs from the handover forward and its culmination in the more severe crackdown that followed the 2019 protest, the 2020 passage of the National Security Law, and the 2021 Beijing imposition of a patriots-only electoral system. This talk will highlight the comprehensive impact of these developments on Hong Kong’s rule of law, its criminal justice system, and the many freedoms for which the vibrant city was long known—often previously ranking among the highest in the world. The diminution of basic freedoms has touched nearly all sectors of society, including education, the media, public broadcasting, civil society organizations, legal services, and so on. The city long known for a vibrant public debate, its vigorous media landscape, and some of the largest non-violent protests in the world has gone silent. The sheer comprehensiveness of this imposition raises questions not only for Hong Kong but for liberal democratic values globally, as autocratic regimes such as the PRC seek to advance their illiberal agenda.
Topic:
Protests, Institutions, Liberalism, and Autocracy
Political Geography:
China, Asia, and Hong Kong

124. Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China

Author:
Lynette Ong and Junyan Jiang
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
How do states coerce citizens into compliance while simultaneously minimizing backlash? In Outsourcing Repression, Lynette Ong examines how the Chinese state engages nonstate actors, from violent street gangsters to nonviolent grassroots brokers, to coerce and mobilize the masses to pursue its ambitious urbanization project. She draws on ethnographic research conducted annually from 2011 to 2019--the years from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping, a unique and original event dataset, and a collection of government regulations in a study of everyday land grabs and housing demolition in China. Theorizing a counterintuitive form of repression that reduces resistance and backlash, Ong invites the reader to reimagine the new ground state power credibly occupies. Everyday state power is quotidian power acquired through society by penetrating nonstate territories and mobilizing the masses within. After the book’s publication, Lynette has extended the arguments to explain the success, failure, and implications of China’s Zero-Covid Policy in the Journal of Democracy, Foreign Affairs and the Economist etc. Outsourcing Repression has won the American Sociology Association’s Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship in Political Sociology, and the Human Rights Best Book Awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association.
Topic:
Non State Actors, Governance, State, Coercion, Zero-COVID, and State Power
Political Geography:
China and Asia

125. "Inventing Eastern Europe" Thirty Years Later: A Conversation with Larry Wolff and Guests

Author:
Malgorzata Mazurek, Larry Wolff, Suzanne Marchand, Emile Greble, and Jan Kubik
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
When Larry Wolff’s book Inventing Eastern Europe was published in 1994, it gave the world a new set of tools for understanding the half of Europe that had recently emerged from behind the Iron Curtain. Most notably, Wolff’s book showed how the conceptual division of the European continent into two distinct civilizations, East and West, although reinforced by the Realpolitik of the Cold War, actually originated in the discourse of philosophes and travelers in the 18th century. Inventing Eastern Europe was revelatory in the mid-1990s, and it has been required reading for serious students of Eastern European history and culture ever since. Please join the East Central European Center and the Harriman Institute for a conversation with Larry Wolff, Suzanne Marchand, Emily Greble and Jan Kubik, moderated by Malgorzata Mazurek, about the genesis, initial impact and continued relevance of this seminal work on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication.
Topic:
Cold War, History, and Philosophy
Political Geography:
Europe and Eastern Europe

126. A Global History of Hungary: Concept, Implementation, Reflection

Author:
Ferenc Laczó
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
The recently released volumes of Magyarország globális története (A Global History of Hungary) are the joint product of 159 scholars from a host of disciplines. Together, they explore the history of an East Central European country in a truly global perspective for the first time. The two volumes cover developments from the formation of the Pannonian Plain and the early spread of human settlement and agriculture, through the emergence of world religions and the era of European colonialism and imperialism, all the way to key issues in the multipolar and contested globalization of our days. This narrative arc already suggests why such a global history of Hungary may be urgently needed today: to reinterpret in a substantial and nuanced manner, for our age of manifold interconnections, the place and various roles of Hungary and Hungarians in the history of the world. More specifically, the 203 chapters included in A Global History of Hungary capitalize on four key insights. First, East Central Europe has tended to be a semi-peripheral area in the global scheme of things, and it has thus been much closer to the global average than some of the parts of the world on which much of recent global historiography has focused. East Central European countries have also developed numerous and still underexplored intercontinental connections outside the Western core that should be of special interest in our age of global multipolarity. At the same time, it can be assumed that this diverse area, as a rather peripheral part of Europe in a formerly largely Eurocentric world, has played the role of a “secondary colonialist” for significant parts of modern history – a topic that needs to be researched in detail and critically scrutinized. Moreover, the predominant transnational orientation of this suburb of Europe has shifted repeatedly and sometimes dramatically, creating a complex pattern of legacies – or “continuities in discontinuity” – that can only be properly analysed through a transnational history on the longue durée. In this presentation, co-editor Ferenc Laczó will reflect on the agenda to embed Hungarian history comprehensively in global frameworks. He will discuss the specific ways in which this agenda has been implemented, not least to explain how the contributing authors have taken up and adapted a recent Western European approach to historiography, what challenges this has entailed, and what opportunities such a process of adaptation to East Central Europe offers.
Topic:
History and Historiography
Political Geography:
Europe and Hungary

127. How Has the Ukraine War Changed the China-Russia Relationship?

Author:
Yun Sun, Segey Radchenko, Andrew Nathan, and Alexander Cooley
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
Just prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping proclaimed a “no-limits” partnership between their countries. But Russia’s war in Ukraine has had a profound impact on the Sino-Russian relationship. While Putin has sought Beijing’s support for his territorial grab, China’s position, has been famously characterized as “pro-Russia neutrality”. Geopolitics remains the single most important factor in China’s decision regarding the Ukraine war, as Beijing has been torn between the competing agendas of managing its relations with Russia and relations with Europe. And while the Russians have grown increasingly frustrated with what many in Moscow perceive as Beijing’s double-dealing and unwillingness to commit, Putin’s leverage with Xi Jinping remains limited. As the war in Ukraine grinds into its third year, China and Russia continue unsteadily towards an ever closer alignment even while pragmatically looking out for their own interests in an evolving world.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Partnerships, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe

128. Book Talk. "Avant-Garde Post– Radical Poetics after the Soviet Union"

Author:
Marijeta Bozovic and Mark Lipovetsky
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
What does leftist art look like in the wake of state socialism? In recent years, Russian-language avant-garde poetry has been seeking the answers to this question. Marijeta Bozovic follows a constellation of poets at the center of a contemporary literary movement that is bringing radical art out of the Soviet shadow: Kirill Medvedev, Pavel Arseniev, Aleksandr Skidan, Dmitry Golynko, Roman Osminkin, Keti Chukhrov, and Galina Rymbu. While their formal experiments range widely, all share a commitment to explicitly political poetry. Each one, in turn, has become a hub in a growing new-left network across the former Second World.
Topic:
Arts, Culture, Leftist Politics, Soviet Union, and Poetry
Political Geography:
Post-Soviet Europe

129. Deal or No Deal: The Road to a Cease-fire in Gaza and on the Lebanon-Israel Border

Author:
Gerald Feierstein and Randa Slim
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
The Middle East Institute hosted an on-the-record briefing on current Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations and likely outcomes in the coming days and weeks.
Topic:
Negotiation, Hamas, Ceasefire, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

130. Risks and challenges to oil and gas markets in the current Middle East conflict

Author:
Colby Connelly, Emily Stromquist, Karen Young, Yesar Al-Maleki, and Nikolay Kozhanov
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
The Middle East Institute’s (MEI) Program on Economics and Energy cordially invites you to a panel discussion of the war-time threats to energy transit along the Red Sea corridor and to regional production facilities, within the context of broader supply-and-demand dynamics. Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza, hydrocarbon prices have held relatively stable, although attacks by Houthi militants on shipping in the Red Sea could cause long-term market shifts and geographic segmentation. Why have we seen such a low impact on oil prices to date despite profound regional instability? What explains natural gas prices staying at historic lows? Are Gulf oil facilities at risk? What is the outlook for gas production in the Eastern Mediterranean? And how is OPEC considering outside supply competition and near-term demand? To answer these and other questions, MEI has convened five top US and regional energy and geopolitical risk analysts, who include contributors to MEI’s new edited volume Energy Transitions in the Middle East. They will reflect on their assessments of oil and gas markets prior to Oct. 7 as well as share their views on the current risks and challenges for fossil fuel producers in the region.
Topic:
Economics, Markets, Oil, Energy, and Natural Gas
Political Geography:
Middle East, Yemen, Gaza, and Red Sea

131. Expert Voices: Iran’s record-low election turnout

Author:
Alex Vatanka
Publication Date:
03-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
MEI's Iran Program Director Alex Vatanka discusses his main takeaways from Iran's recent elections and their record-low voter turnout.
Topic:
Elections, Domestic Politics, and Voting Behavior
Political Geography:
Iran and Middle East

132. What’s next in the Israel-Iran conflict?

Author:
Eran Etzion, Mick Mulroy, and Alex Vatanka
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
The Middle East Institute hosted an on-the-record briefing on what's next in the Israel-Iran conflict. Speakers Eran Etzion Non-Resident Scholar, Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, Middle East Institute Mick Mulroy Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Defense & Security Program, Middle East Institute Alex Vatanka Iran Program Director, Middle East Institute
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Conflict, and Regional Politics
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, and Israel

133. Tackling the proxy problem: Mitigating the threat posed by Iran's "Axis of Resistance"

Author:
Alex Vatanka, Nadwa Al-Dawsari, and Sabri Ates
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
The war in Gaza has revealed much about the relationships Iran maintains with its proxy forces across the region, from Lebanon and Syria to Yemen and Iraq. While the various militant groups in the “Axis of Resistance” all receive support from the Islamic Republic, each has its own objectives and strategic focus, a point underlined by the Houthis’ emergence as a key new regional player. The group has fired on commercial ships, attacked military vessels, and shut down maritime traffic on one of the world’s most significant trade arteries. If the situation escalates, Iran-backed groups could unleash far greater havoc, both within the region and well beyond its borders. What steps can the US and its partners take now to ensure that additional Iranian-supported forces do not join the Gaza conflict? And how can Iran’s proxies be deterred from acting to help de-escalate tensions across the region? And what, if anything, can Washington do to change the strategic calculations in Tehran?
Topic:
Proxy Groups, Axis of Resistance, and 2023 Gaza War
Political Geography:
Iraq, Iran, Middle East, Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria

134. Avoiding a second front: De-escalating simmering tensions between Israel and Hezbollah

Author:
Paul Salem, Patricia Karam, and James F. Hollifield
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
Tensions have run red hot on Israel’s northern border since October, as near-daily clashes between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah risk the prospect of greater escalation. US diplomatic efforts have focused on preventing a full-scale war from breaking out, while intensified military deployments have sought to deter Iran and its regional proxies. Could the recent escalation in exchanges between Israeli and Hezbollah forces lead to the opening of a second front in Israel’s war? How should we assess US mediation efforts so far? What are Hezbollah's and Israel’s strategic calculations? What would the costs of a wider war be for Lebanon and its already hard-hit population? Finally, what would be the broader regional implications of a full-scale Israeli-Hezbollah conflict
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Hezbollah, and Armed Conflict
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Lebanon, and United States of America

135. Silencing the guns: Bringing the war in Gaza to a sustainable end

Author:
Brian Katulis, Khaled Elgindy, and James F. Hollifield
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
More than six months on from Hamas’ brutal attack on Oct. 7, the war in Gaza shows few signs of slowing down. In the devastated coastal strip tens of thousands have died, over a million are internally displaced, aid delivery remains exceedingly difficult, and famine is beginning to spread. Meanwhile, other than a brief, two-week pause that expired in December, repeated efforts to negotiate another cease-fire have failed. US, Egyptian, and Qatari diplomats have been hard at work for half a year, but over 130 hostages remain in captivity with no real indication of how many are still alive. Rising tensions between Israel and Iran are only likely to exacerbate the situation, with unpredictable consequences. How can the US and its regional and international partners help bring the war to a sustainable end? What does Washington want the region to look like after the dust settles? And what steps must it take to reach that goal?
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Hamas, Armed Conflict, and 2023 Gaza War
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, Gaza, and United States of America

136. American diplomacy toward Lebanon with Amb. David Hale

Author:
David Hale and Fadi Nicholas Nassar
Publication Date:
05-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
Ambassador David Hale joins MEI's US-Lebanon Fellow Fadi Nicholas Nassar to discuss his book American Diplomacy Toward Lebanon: Lessons in Foreign Policy and the Middle East. They cover takeaways from his time as ambassador and the state of US-Lebanon and regional diplomacy following the Gaza war.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Regional Politics, and 2023 Gaza War
Political Geography:
Australia and Lebanon

137. The ramifications of the surge in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah

Author:
Gerald Feierstein, Eran Etzion, and Charles Lister
Publication Date:
06-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
MEI experts discuss the risks of a full-blown war following the latest rounds of escalation, the political and strategic calculations inside Israel and by Hezbollah, as well as the additional steps the United States can take to help avert a broader conflict. The briefing features Amb. (ret.) Gerald Feierstein, Distinguished Senior Fellow on U.S. Diplomacy at the Middle East Institute (MEI); Eran Etzion, Former Head of Policy Planning for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Non-Resident Scholar at MEI; as well as Charles Lister, Director MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism Programs.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Foreign Policy, Armed Conflict, and 2023 Gaza War
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Lebanon

138. ISIS’s enduring threat in Syria and Iraq

Author:
Charles Lister and Alistair Taylor
Publication Date:
08-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
On this week's episode, Director of MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism and Extremism Programs Charles Lister speaks with MEI Editor-in-Chief Alistair Taylor on the resurgence of the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria and Iraq. This episode is the first in a several-part series looking at where the terrorist group stands today and its international footprint 10 years on from the founding of the 87-country Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Topic:
Violent Extremism, Counter-terrorism, and Islamic State
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, and Syria

139. The caucasus: peace negotiations and the global energy transition

Author:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has set in motion new security and power dynamics across the wider Black Sea region. The conflict, which continues to overwhelmingly preoccupy the Kremlin created a power vacuum in the South Caucasus and, in the aftermath of the recent series of wars over Karabakh, opened up space for peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. These negotiations may not only lead to a normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani ties following three decades of conflict but also open the possibility for reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey, with ample economic, political, and security effects for the entire region. Russia’s aggression has also created energy supply shortages in Europe, drawn the South Caucasus closer to the continent, and rushed the energy transition in many instances. Azerbaijan is becoming an ever more important energy supplier to European customers. At the same time, Baku is investing in key renewable energy projects, with an eye to becoming a major clean electricity exporter, and is set to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in November 2024. This panel discussion brings together two of this year’s Black Sea Program Title VIII research fellows to present their findings on the South Caucasus in the context of new security arrangements, peace negotiations, and the global energy transition. The research fellowships are granted by the US State Department for the Middle East Institute’s Black Sea Program
Topic:
Renewable Energy, Armed Conflict, Regional Politics, Russia-Ukraine War, and Energy Transition
Political Geography:
Russia and Ukraine

140. Black sea security: Romania’s military modernization and Armenia’s foreign policy reorientation

Author:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Middle East Institute (MEI)
Abstract:
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has pushed the Black Sea region to the forefront of international attention and forced regional countries to overhaul their own security calculations. The countries of the extended Black Sea region are now undergoing some of the most profound shifts in their foreign, security, and defense policies in decades, with Romania and Armenia at the forefront of this phenomenon. Notably, the government of Romania, the United States’ staunchest regional ally, has increased its defense spending, pushed ahead with major defense acquisitions from the US, and is building out its strategic partnership with Washington; at the same time, it is looking to strengthen its domestic military industry while also expanding its security cooperation with neighboring Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. In Armenia, a long-time ally of Russia, the government is orchestrating the country’s foreign policy reorientation toward the West. But to achieve this, Yerevan must first overcome its deeply ingrained strategic dependencies on Russia and decades of regional isolation, both of which represent among the most significant challenges Yerevan has faced since independence. This panel discussion brings together two of this year’s Black Sea Program Title VIII research fellows to present their findings on the strategic challenges and opportunities facing Armenia and Romania in the context of Russia’s war of aggression. The fellowships are granted by the US State Department for the Middle East Institute’s Black Sea Program.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, Regional Politics, and Russia-Ukraine War
Political Geography:
Armenia and Romania