On September 12-17 Professor Subrata Mitra and his doctoral candidate Lu Yang were invited by the Department of International Relations of Tsinghua University of China for a five-day visit. Tsinghua University is based at Beijing and belongs to one of the oldest Chinese universities. The history of the Department is not very long but has achieved a distinguished reputation in research and teaching of International Studies in China since the 1990s. It offers B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees and its programs cover four areas including political science, International Relations, International Political Economy and foreign policy study. In 2010, the Department also launched an international MA program which is taught in English.
On September 13, at 7pm, shortly after a warm reception by the Dean of the Department Professor Shi Zhiqin, Professor Mitra delivered his first lecture in Tsinghua University. The lecture was held in Xinzhai, one of the main buildings of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University. The topic of the lecture was “When Rebels Become Stakeholders: Traditional Society, Modern Politics and the Resilience of India’s Democracy”. The core questions of the lecture were: what makes India’s counter-factual democracy ‘work’ and what significance does India’s counter-factual democracy hold for general theories of democracy transition and consolidation? Professor Mitra addressed the two faces of India’s democracy: India’s democratic success makes the country a deviant case in contrast to most post-colonial states, at the same time India’s democratic failures question the country’s claim to be the world’s largest democracy. He preferred a neo-institutional model for explanation and drew the conclusion that states have the ability to raise democracy in its own way. It doesn’t have to be the liberal democracy; since democracy is grounded on the society it develops and gets the drive within the society. Students of Tsinghua University showed great interest in India’s democracy and domestic development and actively asked questions in the discussion later. |
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The second important event of this visit is the round table discussion about India’s foreign policy led by Professor Mitra at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy on September 15th. The Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy is a joint U.S.-China research center based at Tsinghua University in Beijing, of which Professor Shi Zhiqin, the Dean of the Department, is a resident scholar. The event was held in a small circle, attendants were members of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center and some Chinese scholars who work on South Asia but come from other universities and research institutions in Beijing such as Peking University, Foreign Affairs University, Chinese Academy of Social Science, etc. The event started on 9.30 in the morning and was opened by Professor Shi who was the moderator. Then Professor Mitra gave a 45 minutes presentation “Nuclear, Engaged and Non-aligned? The Ambiguity of India’s Power” followed by a one-hour discussion. In the presentation Professor Mitra argued that India’s foreign policy gives the impression of lacking coherence and consistency because of its both non-aligned and assertive behaviors. Although India has newly acquired international influence, it has yet to develop policies to manage this influence effectively. He pointed out that India’s foreign policy is a hybridization which shows the tendency towards liberal realism. Vigorous discussion took place in the session afterwards. Han Hua from Peking University asked for a definition of India’s Panchasheela and Professor Mitra’s understanding of non-alignment. Lora Saalman from Carnegie-Tsinghua Center questioned the perception of India as a status-quo power regarding to India’s going nuclear. Su Hao from Foreign Affairs University drew attention to the US-India relationship which has caused many Chinese concerns. Within the debate, the current Sino-Indian relations were also addressed and slightly comparison of India and China’s foreign policy was made. |
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In the evening on September 15th Professor Mitra gave his last lecture in Tsinghua University. The lecture entitled “Being & Becoming: Identity, Welfare and Citizenship in Europe” was at the Professor Shi Zhiqin’s request of addressing some European questions. At the lecture Professor Mitra introduced the migrants/minorities policy in the European Union and explored the “idea of Europe” and how to integrate migrants and minorities into Europe. He recommended a conceptual flow regarding to this issue and in fact practiced conceptual flow in the lecture which aroused a lot of applause and laugh in students. In the end he concluded that India’s experience of integration is also illuminating to Europe in this respect and developed a new theory of cultural integration which emphasizes three levels of dealing with differences among groups: first, noticing differences, second, respecting differences and finally ignoring differences. |
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At the end of the visit, on September 16th, Professor Mitra and the Dean, Professor Shi met again for a talk. Professor Shi thanked Professor Mitra for his lectures and expressed the wish to establish collaborative program with the University of Heidelberg. Professor Mitra expressed his great satisfaction of the academic activities in Tsinghua University and thanked Professor Shi for the hospitality and kind attention to the details of the visit. They explored various possibilities for future cooperation and both sides agreed the visit was successful and fruitful. |
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You can download the report in pdf-format here.
For further information, please contact Ms. Lu Yang, MA (Heidelberg University)
