Pardee Professors Speak at Symposium on China’s BRI
The Center for the Study of Asia (BUCSA) and Center for the Study of Europe, affiliated regional centers at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, hosted a February 21, 2019 symposium entitled “By Land and By Sea: China’s Belt and Road in Europe.” Several Pardee School professors spoke at the symposium, which focused on geo-economic and geo-strategic perspectives of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The first panel, focusing on geo-economic perspectives, featured Kevin Gallagher, Director of the Global Development Policy (GDP) Center and Professor of Global Development Policy at the Pardee School; Thomas Berger, BUCSA Director and Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School; Grant Rhode, Senior Lecturer at the Pardee School and Adjunct Professor in Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Naval War College; and Philippe Le Corre, Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The panel covered topics including China’s offensive at the periphery of Europe (southern Europe case studies), China’s offensive in the center of Europe (Germany and northern Europe) and the emerging hub of the Maritime Silk Road in Europe.
The second panel, focusing on geo-strategic perspectives, featured Min Ye, Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School; Amb. Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Pardee School; former member of the European Parliament Georgios Dimitrakopoulos; and Robert Ross, Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Associate at the John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.
Topics covered in the second panel included Chinese and Russian strategic influence in Southeastern Europe and the emerging presence of China in the Arctic and the Mediterranean.
The second panel was followed by a reception at 121 Bay State Road.
The Center for the Study of Asia promotes comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and cross-national understanding of Asia through coordination of teaching missions, research support, community-building among faculty and students, and broad outreach beyond the university. It strives to be an intellectual hub for new ideas and cutting edge research in the humanities and social sciences.
The mission of the Center for the Study of Europe is to promote understanding of Europe through its cultural heritage; its political, economic, and religious histories; its art, literature, music, and philosophy; as well as through its recent emergence as a new kind of international form through the European Union (EU). Operationally, the center provides a focal point and institutional support for the study of Europe across Boston University through coordination of teaching missions, support of research, community-building among faculty and students, and outreach beyond the University.