Research Field: Politics, Foreign Policy and Security during Transitional Periods
Research Group 1 Public Space in China
In countries and regions characterized by different economic, social and cultural backgrounds, both the perceptions and the actual conditions of the approaches applied to "public space" also vary. The goal of this Group is to characterize the current conditions in China in this regard, while also incorporating in its perspective the possibility of comparing the state of public space in different nations. With regard to public space in China, key questions include how that space functions on various different fronts in the political society; the nature of the struggles that develop in those realms; and how best to define the types of interaction advanced with the authorities in that respect.
This Group strives to analyze these matters from a universal conceptual framework. In more specific terms, the plan is to work through qualitative and quantitative analysis to structurally clarify the mutual ties and directions of change between: (1) The Chinese Communist Party and the state (central and regional governments); (2) the market (companies); and (3) civil society (various groups, community organizations, the mass media, etc.).
Research Group 2 The International Order and China, and the Generation and Use of "Power"
With its rise to global prominence, will China strive to break out of the international order that has existed to date, or will it move in the direction of upholding that order? This question poses one of the key issues of consideration when approaching Chinese foreign policy concerns. The objective of this Group is to clarify the attitude and posture that China will adopt with regard to existing international regimes, standards and rules, utilizing an empirical approach and from a comparative perspective.
Another related target of our studies consists of the "power" (diplomatic and military power in particular) utilized by China in pursuit of its national interests and to guarantee its national security. This aim stems from the fact that China is a country that subscribes to both the possession and the use of "power," and which indeed has worked through the combination of those two aspects of power to formulate its national foreign policy and security strategies. This Group seeks to elucidate the distinguishing characteristics of the perception and actions that China's brings to the arena of external affairs, through the analysis of how China generates and puts such "power" to use.
