Come learn more about our winter study abroad in Cambodia. In collaboration with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), Cornell's Southeast Asia (SEAP, Einaudi) Study Abroad program in Cambodia will provide an in-depth focus on on how the dynamic changes in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap connect to their history, policies, and labor politics. This highly interactive course involves a mix of lectures by scholars and policy makers, with field visits. Given that the labor-intensive garment industry has contributed to making Cambodia one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, we will specifically focus on the role of labor and human capital in Cambodia's development.

Come learn more about our winter study abroad in Cambodia, lunch provided. In collaboration with the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS), Cornell's Southeast Asia (SEAP, Einaudi) Study Abroad program in Cambodia will provide an in-depth focus on on how the dynamic changes in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap connect to their history, policies, and labor politics. This highly interactive course involves a mix of lectures by scholars and policy makers, with field visits. Given that the labor-intensive garment industry has contributed to making Cambodia one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, we will specifically focus on the role of labor and human capital in Cambodia's development.

Climate Cascades

International organizations (IOs) are rapidly reorienting around climate change, despite powerful principal states having divergent preferences. When and why do IOs prioritize climate change? Richard T. Clark, Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University, will argue that they do so as a result of an endogenous process of staff learning and rotation. IO staff surveil and implement programs in target states. When working in climate-vulnerable countries, they come to see climate change as an issue warranting aggressive action. As these staff are rotated and promoted, interest in climate diffuses outwards and upwards through the institution. To test this theory, original data is introduced, tracking the International Monetary Fund's attention to climate change and the career paths of key staff. This is complemented with interviews of IMF personnel to support this theory.

About the speaker

Dr. Richard T. Clark is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University. His research interests center on international organizations, international finance, public opinion of foreign economic policy, and climate politics. He is particularly interested in policymaking at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and how these organizations bargain with member states. His work has been published in the American Journal of Political Science, International Organization, and the Journal of Politics, among other outlets. His research has been recognized with several awards, including the 2022 Best Dissertation award from the International Collaboration section at APSA and the 2021 Henry Owen Memorial Award from the Bretton Woods Committee. He holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Host

Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

An Environmental and Technological History of Cold War Mega-Projects in Latin America

Weaponizing Geography demonstrates the consequences of unbuilt mega-projects. Sebastian Diaz Angel will discuss the untold story of how a series of high modernist Cold War projects came into being and what their proponents hoped to achieve, as well as the successes, failures, and consequences of their actions. It examines the so-called “South American Great Lakes System” (SAGLS), a geographical and environmental engineering project (1964-1973) proposed by the Hudson Institute of New York, a think tank related to the U.S. Department of Defense. With the support of influential Latin American elite members, engineers, and war strategists, this think tank sought to transform the major rivers of the continent into a series of massive interlocked, channelized, and navigable artificial reservoirs. Much like the North American Great Lakes, these waterways would provide (in theory) inexpensive riverine transportation, inexhaustible sources of hydropower, and a landscape facilitating large-scale agroindustry, mining, and counterinsurgency operations in allegedly “unexploited and unexplored” tropical regions.

Please join us for this virtual conversation. Register here.

About the speaker

Before starting his Ph.D. at Cornell’s History Department, Dr. Sebastian Diaz Angel had an M.A. in Geography, a B.A. in History, and a B.A. in Political Sciences. He worked as the Digital Map Curator at the National Library of Colombia, lectured at Externado University, and led Razón Cartográfica, an academic network promoting research on the history of geography and cartography in Colombia and Latin America. Sebastian specializes in maps studies and has a profound interest in environmental history, science and technology studies, geopolitics, public history, and the digital humanities.

Host

Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

The Supreme Court of Japan (SCJ) has been described as the most conservative and passive constitutional court in the world. The small number of times the Japanese Supreme Court has struck down statutes as unconstitutional is an argument for such a statement. However, the SCJ has provided important decisions to control legislative and executive power in fields related to the democratic political process, such as the right to vote and freedom of expression.

Masahiko Kinoshita, Graduate School of Law, University of Kobe, Japan gives this talk.

In Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in power for a long time. Nevertheless, the fact that Japan has been able to maintain democracy without falling into authoritarianism is largely dependent on the SCJ's accumulation of precedents. This talk will discuss the active aspects of the SCJ in the democratic political process, which have not received much attention so far.

Faculty host and moderator: Yun-chien Chang, the Cornell Law School Jack G. Clarke Professor in East Asian Law

Discussant: Mitchell Lasser, Jack G. Clarke Professor of Law

This event is co-sponsored by the East Asia program and the Cornell Law School Clarke East Asia Law Program.

Does evoking historical parallels change public opinion regarding foreign policy?

Seeking international support to counter Russia’s February 2022 invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly addressed foreign politicians and public in several democratic nations. Media coverage paid special attention to his explicit comparison of Ukraine’s current situation to salient historical events in the audiences' countries.

Since public opinion can influence foreign policy decisions in democracies, we investigate whether evoking the past of the audience's country effectively increases popular support for aiding Ukraine.

Anil Menon and colleagues conducted survey experiments simultaneously in four countries where Zelensky delivered speeches rich in historical parallels – Germany and Israel (Holocaust), United Kingdom (WWII), and the United States (Pearl Harbor and 9/11). Exposure to excerpts from Zelensky's speeches triggered distinctive emotional reactions in all countries consistent with the content tailored for each country.

Only in Israel did exposure increase public support for bolstering Ukraine’s war efforts. Thus, while rhetoric emphasizing past-present commonalities might evoke emotional reactions, its persuasive potential appears limited.

About the Speaker

Anil Menon is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Merced. Previously, he was a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Government at Cornell University and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Center for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.

His research is motivated by three broad questions. How do traumatic experiences – ranging from interstate wars and forced migration to public health crises – shape short- and long-term political attitudes, behaviors, and institutions? What are the historical roots of contemporary patterns of economic and political development? Are rhetorical appeals to the past persuasive?

Cohosts

Institute for European Studies

Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies