The Conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: A Conversation with Steve Hege
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The Program on Human Rights at CDDRL, the Center for African Studies and Student Anti-Genocide Coalition STAND are honored to host Steve Hege for this special seminar.
Steve Hege will present the most recent findings of the United Nations Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo. The report, which was leaked to the public earlier this fall, has garnered significant international attention because of its role in implicating Rwanda and Uganda in the conflict in eastern Congo. According to the report, Rwanda Defense Minister Gen. James Kabarebe is directing M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda and Uganda have contributed troops to support the rebels against government forces. The report further asserts that Rwandan mineral traders are helping to fund the insurgency.
The event will feature a presentation of these findings by Hege, followed by time for questions as well as discussion.
Bio:
Steve Hege has worked as a member of the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC since 2010 and is currently the group's coordinator. An expert on armed groups in eastern Congo, he has previously worked for the UN mission in Congo (MONUC), Jesuit Refugee Service, and Refugee International. In addition to his extensive experience in the DRC, Hege has also conducted extensive research on conflict in other parts of the world, including Colombia, the Philippines, and Nepal.
The event will be moderated by Caitlin Monroe. Ms Monroe is a masters student in African studies who focuses on Congo and the African Great Lakes region. She wrote her undergraduate history honors thesis on land conflict and historical memory in North Kivo, DRC, and she is a member of the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition STAND.
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Steve Hege
UN Expert on the DRC
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Seminars
Governing Security: The Hidden Origins of American Security Agencies
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Description from Stanford University Press:
The impact of public law depends on how politicians secure control of public organizations, and how these organizations in turn are used to define national security. Governing Security explores this dynamic by investigating the surprising history of two major federal agencies that touch the lives of Americans every day: the Roosevelt-era Federal Security Agency (which became today's Department of Health and Human Services) and the more recently created Department of Homeland Security.
Through the stories of both organizations, Cuéllar offers a compelling account of crucial developments affecting the basic architecture of our nation. He shows how Americans end up choosing security goals not through an elaborate technical process, but in lively and overlapping settings involving conflict over agency autonomy, presidential power, and priorities for domestic and international risk regulation. Ultimately, as Cuéllar shows, the ongoing fights about the scope of national security reshape the very structure of government, particularly during—or in anticipation of—a national crisis.
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The Crisis in Japanese and Chinese Public Opinion: Can Soft Power Soften an 'Enemy Image'?
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Why are Japan and China perpetually at odds? In this talk, Christian Collet will discuss the growing role of public opinion in bilateral tensions and the conflicting images that are held by Chinese and Japanese of one another. While there has long been a mixture of affection, anger and rivalry at the diplomatic level, Collet will explain that the roots of contemporary discontent lie, in part, in contradistinctive citizen impressions: in China, perceptions of threat borne of history and new media; in Japan, discontent manifest in domestic political culture, including eroding trust and right-wing ideology. Collet will examine the potential of soft power for ameliorating the relationship, providing some evidence to suggest that pop cultural exchanges may have a desired impact on segments of both publics. But soft power can only go so far to soften a negative image; concerted efforts, Collet will argue, also need to be made by opinion leaders to reassure citizens and restore trust in governmental decision-making.
Christian Collet (PhD, University of California, Irvine) joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) during the 2012–13 academic year from International Christian University, Tokyo, where he serves as senior associate professor of American politics and international relations.
His research interests focus on public opinion in Asian Pacific/American contexts and the influence of race, ethnicity and nationalism on political mobilization. During his time at Shorenstein APARC, he is working on a project that uses comparative survey data to examine the dynamics of Japanese opinion toward domestic politics, China and Southeast Asia. He is also finishing up a project concerning the role of Vietnam in the political incorporation of first generation Vietnamese Americans. In 2004–05, he held a visiting appointment at Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, under the U.S. Fulbright Program.
Collet's work has appeared in Perspectives on Politics, The Journal of Politics, Public Opinion Quarterly, Japanese Journal of Political Science, PS, Amerasia Journal and Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts. He is the co-editor, with Pei-te Lien, of The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans (Temple University Press, 2009).
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Christian Collet
Visiting Associate Professor
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Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
Seminars
Historical Reconciliation in Northeast Asia: Can the United States Play a Role?
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Ends of Enlightenment
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Illicit Transnational Actors and Security: Myths, Misconceptions, and Historical Lessons
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About the Topic: Conventional accounts of the proliferation of illicit transnational actors--ranging from migrant smugglers to drug traffickers to black market arms dealers--describe them as increasingly agile, sophisticated, and technologically savvy. Governments, in sharp contrast, are often depicted as increasingly besieged, outsmarted, poorly equipped, and clumsy in dealing with them. While there is much truth in these common claims, Andreas argues that they are overly alarmist and misleading and suffer from historical amnesia. Drawing especially from the U.S. historical and contemporary experience, he offers a corrective that challenges common myths and misconceptions about the illicit side of globalization.
About the Speaker: Peter Andreas is a professor of political science and international studies in the Department of Political Science and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Andreas has published nine books, including Blue Helmets and Black Markets: The Business of Survival in the Siege of Sarajevo (Cornell University Press, 2008) and Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide (Cornell University Press, 2nd edition 2009). Other writings include articles for publications such as International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, and The Nation. His latest book is on the politics of smuggling in American history, titled, Smuggler Nation: How Illicit Trade Made America (Oxford University Press, 2013).
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Peter Andreas
Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Brown University
Speaker
Seminars
U.S. role resolving in contemporary territorial disputes
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As a result of the conclusion of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the United States bears a historic responsibility for helping resolve contemporary territorial disputes in Northeast Asia, said Daniel C. Sneider in a recent Jiji Press interview.
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The dome of San Francisco's Civic Center, site of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
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