With the rise of regional powers such as India, South Africa and Brazil, what kinds of power shifts can we expect to impact the international system? Fifteen talented young researchers will attempt to answer this and related questions over the course of their studies at the Hamburg International Graduate School for the Study of Regional Powers (HIGS). At the school's inaugural event on April 27th, speakers will include Dr. Herlind Gundelach (Senator for Science and Research, Hamburg) and the new president of the University of Hamburg, Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen.
Professor Andrew Hurrell of Oxford University will hold a lecture entitled "Emerging Powers and the Global Order." Professor Karoline Postel-Vinay of Sciences Po University (Paris), will present "The Power of Regions: A Contradiction in Terms?"
Over the course of the next decade, the global and regional power structures of our world will certainly undergo various changes. However, current scholarship is lacking somewhat in regards to these nascent structures and emerging sets of relationships on both the regional and the international level. HIGS is charged with the task of analyzing the root causes, the manifestations and the effects of these emerging power shifts in non-European regions and states. HIGS also strives to analyze growing conflicts over leadership in the relevant regions; disputes over spheres of influence; and the ways in which the formation of governmental structures affects not only particular regions, but also the world as a whole.
The GIGA and the University of Hamburg run HIGS in cooperation with partner institutions Sciences Po and Oxford University. The graduate school receives financial funding through the auspices of the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation (Pakt für Forschung und Innovation), as well as through the "Landesexzellenzinitiative Hamburg" (LEXI).
Research regarding regional powers is nothing new for the GIGA. With the assistance of the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation, the GIGA has also been running the Regional Powers Network (RPN; see http://www.giga-hamburg.de/rpn) since 2006.
The GIGA (German Institute of Global and Area Studies) is the largest German research institute for area and comparative area studies and is also among the largest in Europe. Its research focuses on political, economic and social developments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Interregional linkages and global themes are incorporated within this research.
(If you would like to attend the April 27th event, please contact: anmeldung(at)giga-hamburg.de)
Contact
Dr. Miriam Prys, HIGS liaison to the GIGA
Tel.: 040 - 42825 - 589
Email: prys(at)giga-hamburg.de
