The Distribution of Identity in Asia and China's Regional Hegemonic Prospects: prof. Ted Hopf on the Contemporary Issues in Political Science Research Seminar

This year’s first meeting of the Contemporary Issues in Political Science Research Seminar will be held on October 10.

Speaker: prof. Ted Hopf (National University of Singapore)

(co-authored with Srdjan Vucetic, University of Ottawa and Bentley Allan, Johns Hopkins University)

Subject: The Distribution of Identity in Asia and China's Regional Hegemonic Prospects

In earlier work Allan, Vucetic, and Hopf (Allan, Bentley B., Srdjan Vucetic, and Ted Hopf. "The Distribution of Identity and the Future of International Order: China's Hegemonic Prospects" (International Organization 72.4 (2018): 839-869) argued that the rise of China was unlikely to be accompanied by Chinese hegemony because of the distribution of identities among the world's great powers. In particular, the only great power in the world with which China's "authoritarian capitalism" resonates is Russia. In this work we extend our analysis to China's more immediate neighborhood. As William Wohlforth argued in 1999, (Wohlforth, William C. "The stability of a unipolar world" International security 24.1 (1999): 5-41.) China faces a regional hegemony problem long before it faces a global one. He argued we should expect regional balancing to counter China's rise before the US or Europe even need engage. In this paper we explore the distribution of national identities in China's neighborhood and find a far more mixed picture. While most of China's neighbors are indeed likely resistant to Chinese hegemony, as their own identities are incompatible with China's, four countries have self-understandings more consonant with China's and hence are more likely to be accommodative to China's rise in the region: Russia, Cambodia, Laos, and Singapore.

Working languages: English & Russian.

Where: 3 Krivokolenny Pereulok, room 209.

When: October 10, 4:40 p.m.

If you need a pass please contact Alyona Petrushenkova (apetrushenkova@hse.ru) before 17:00 on October 9.

Ted Hopf is the Provost Chair Professor of Political Science at National University of Singapore, and previously served on the faculties of Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Michigan. His main fields of interest are international relations theory, qualitative research methods, and identity, with special reference to the Soviet Union and the former Soviet space. In addition to articles published in American Political Science Review, European Journal of International Relations, International Organization, Review of International Studies and International Security, and numerous book chapters, he has edited or authored five books. His most recent book, Reconstructing the Cold War: The Early Years, 1945-1958 (Oxford 2012), won the 2013 American Political Science Association Robert Jervis-Paul Schroeder Award for Best Book in International Relations and History and the 2013 Marshall D. Shulman Award, presented by the Association of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies for the best book published that year on the international politics of the former Soviet Union and Central Europe. Social Construction of International Politics: Identities and Foreign Policies, Moscow, 1955 and 1999 (Cornell University Press, 2002) won the 2003 Shulman Award. Hopf received his B.A. from Princeton University in 1983 and Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1989. He was a Fulbright Professor in the autumn of 2001 at the European University at St. Petersburg and a former vice-chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research. His research has been supported by the Mershon Center, the Ford Foundation, the American Council for Learned Societies, and the Olin and Davis Centers at Harvard University.