Join us for the latest edition of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies‘ series, New Books in Asian Studies. We will host Nilofar Sakhi, Professorial Lecturer of International Affairs at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, for the launch of her book Human Security and Agency: Reframing Productive Power in Afghanistan. Benjamin D. Hopkins, Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, will serve as moderator for this lively discussion.

Published by Rowman and Littlefield, Human Security and Agency investigates how human security manifests itself in the context of Afghanistan and explores the factors that promote and impede its development. To that end, scholar and policy practitioner Nilofar Sakhi examines whether the development of productive power is an effective approach to human security implementation in a country that has experienced numerous development programs, which were designed and implemented to build communities and protect their security.

The objective of this book is to move beyond a simple exploration of the causal relationship between human security, structures, and agency and investigate the factors that either promote or impede the implementation of human security. It employs multiple methods of systematic inquiry and engages literature on the socioeconomic and political context in Afghanistan to understand the factors that influence the agency of production, creativity, and control that individuals possess. The combination of well-grounded empirical work and theoretical insights makes this book an invaluable introduction to the study of human security.

The event is organized by the Elliott School Book Launch Series and co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies.

Dealing with assertive China was the most prominent foreign policy issue in the 2020 presidential election campaign and the debate remains acute. Advocates of hard countermeasures toward China say previous US administrations’ failure to counter Chinese challenges resulted in China now posing an enormous danger to American interests. Critics play down past failures and dangers posed by China, condemn excesses in the recent US hard-line, and favor a more moderate and nuanced approach.

Which approach is better? Robert Sutter’s fifth edition overhauls previous editions to offer a comprehensive evidence-based assessment of Chinese foreign behavior to conclude that the United States, its allies and partners are fundamentally challenged by wide-ranging and intensifying Chinese efforts to weaken America in headlong pursuit of ever expanding Chinese ambitions. If successful, the Chinese efforts will undermine and overshadow the existing world order with one dominated by an authoritarian party-state focused on advancing Chinese wealth and power at the expense of others. Sutter concludes that sustained US measures are needed to counter Chinese challenges seen in every major area of Chinese foreign policy behavior.

Sutter will provide an overview of the book and engage attendees during Q&A.

Join us for the final fall edition of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies’ latest series, New Books in Asian Studies. We will host Radhika Singha, Professor of Modern Indian History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, for the US launch of her book The Coolie’s Great War: Indian Labor in a Global Conflict, 1914-1921. Benjamin D. Hopkins, Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, will bring his expertise on British imperialism and serve as moderator for this lively discussion.

In The Coolie’s Great War, Singha pens a spectacular history of the 550,000+ unacknowledged Indian laborers who kept the Allied supply lines flowing in World War I. The labor regimes built on the backs of these non-combatant ‘coolies’ sustained the military infrastructure of empire; their deployment in inter-regional arenas bent to the demands of global war in various capacities from the porters, stevedores, and construction workers in the Coolie Corps to those who maintained supply lines and removed the wounded from the battlefield. Viewed as racially subordinate and subject to ‘non-martial’ caste designations, they fought back against their status, using the warring powers’ need for manpower as leverage to challenge traditional service hierarchies and wage differentials.

Singha will share a general outline of the book and then focus on the last chapter, which deals with homecoming. The Coolie’s Great War views that global conflict through the lens of Indian labor, constructing a distinct geography of the war—from tribal settlements and colonial jails, beyond India’s frontiers, to the battlefronts of France and Mesopotamia.

Join us for the sixth edition of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies‘ latest series, New Books in Asian Studies, where we will host Richard J. Samuels, Ford International Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for International Studies at MIT, to discuss his book Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community with Mike Mochizuki, Director of the B.S. and B.A. in International Affairs programs at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

Intelligence communities are everywhere and always in motion. Japan’s has been no exception, often shifting in response to dramatic analytical and organizational failures, changes in the regional and global balance, and sudden technological developments. In the first half of the 20th century, Japan had a full spectrum intelligence apparatus. This came apart with defeat in WWII and subordination to the United States. After the Cold War, shifts in the security environment and major intelligence failures stimulated rethinking by Tokyo. Following a period of half-hearted and incomplete reforms, the Japanese government began to enhance its collection and analysis capabilities, and to tackle in earnest the dysfunctional stovepipes and leak-prone practices hampering its intelligence system. Where do matters stand today?