The China Policy Program was established in 1998 as one of several constituent policy programs in the Elliott School of International Affairs and is affiliated with the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. The founding Director is David Shambaugh, Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science, and International Affairs, who is a leading international authority on contemporary China and Asian affairs. The China Policy Program was created to build upon the Elliott School’s longstanding expertise and involvement in U.S.-China relations and contemporary Chinese affairs. It primarily serves as an outreach program to the policy community in Washington, China specialists around the world, the media, and the public.

The Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific program promotes the study of the ongoing “memory wars” as well as reconciliation efforts in the region. By cataloging official statements, scholarly works, and news articles pertaining to the subject, we hope to increase awareness about efforts at conflict resolution and confidence-building in the region, we seek to connect individuals and institutions across the Pacific, and promote cooperative endeavors through conferences, joint projects, and commissioned papers. Instead of assigning blame among the parties involved, our ultimate goal is to identify factors that contribute to reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Rising Powers Initiative is a multi-year, cross-national research effort that examines the role of domestic identities and foreign policy debates of aspiring powers in Asia. The Initiative is hosted by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The RPI brings together an internationally recognized team of scholars from both the United States and across the globe to analyze and compare the foreign policy thinking in today’s rising powers.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan.

The need for more focused and advanced study of Taiwan arises from Taiwan’s unique international position and internal development. Taiwan’s troubled relationship with the People’s Republic of China remains a key issue affecting the foreign policy of the United States and creates broader security concerns for the entire Asia-Pacific region. At the same time, Taiwan’s distinctive experience in areas such as democratization and economic development has made Taiwan a model for other societies and a rich field for comparative study.

One primary and continuing goal of the Taiwan Education and Research Program has been the creation and support of the Taiwan Resource Center at The George Washington University’s Gelman Library. The Program also sponsors a seminar series, the Taiwan Forum, organized in 2007 to promote discussion on current Taiwan affairs. Finally the Program collaborates with the Sigur Center to bring other Taiwan-related programming to the GW campus.

This is a publication of the Tibet Governance Project, a research initiative of the Institute for Global and International Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. This Tibet Governance Project will provide updates, reviews, research briefs, commentaries, and discussions on the diversity of issues raised by the challenges of governance in contemporary Tibet.

The Tibet Governance Project advances scholarship, research, and new perspectives on key issues of governance and public policy in contemporary Tibet. The program promotes research initiatives and program activities that produce fresh insights, analyses, and approaches to understanding the social, economic and institutional challenges confronting the Tibetan region.

The Uyghur Studies Initiative is America’s only endowed program for teaching, learning, and research about the Uyghur people, homeland, and diaspora. The USI began as part of IERES’s Central Asia Program in 2012. In 2023, an anonymous gift of nearly $1 million established it as part of the Sigur Center. Today, the USI funds instruction in Uyghur language at two levels. It offers fellowship funding to graduate students undertaking research on Uyghur issues in the arts, humanities, and interpretive social sciences. The USI is also proud to host events that place Uyghur voices into the center of discussions and connect diaspora scholars with the university.