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On 16 May 2013, His Excellency Ambassador Evgeny Vladimirovich Afanasiev of Russian Federation to Japan visited Hosei University and held a dialogue with professors and students. The ambassador explained the Russian foreign policy towards East Asia.
After opening remarks made by Mr. Fukuda, Ambassador Afanasiev mentioned the historical, cultural, political and economic relationship between Japan and Russia. In his speech, he emphasized the significance of cooperating each other for the prosperity of each society. He regarded the recent relationship between both countries as of optimum importance, and put an emphasis on improving the understanding and cooperation between each other. Ambassador Afanasiev also made a reference to the negotiation of peace treaty between Russia and Japan, and he referred to a progress to be made by the leaders of both countries as the significant goal for the development of relationship of two countries.
At the end of the symposium, we had a comments and questions session moderated by Professor Sukehiro Hasegawa, in which three professors commented, Professors Nobuto Shimotomai, Andrei Ivanovich Kravtsevich and Satoru Kurosawa. As a conclusion, Professor Hasegawa referred to the importance of appreciating various cognitions held by those concerned when it comes to solving territorial disputes. He introduced three indispensable ways to solve some territorial problems through (1) the role of ICJ; (2) a shelving of the determination and (3) the settlement of issues through dividing the territories equally as referred to by President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. In addition, Professor Hasegawa pointed out the importance of grasping different opinions held by both sides on territorial disputes. (Keiki Takemasa)
On December 4th, an international symposium on “Humanitarian Diplomacy: Diplomats Who Saved Jewish People” was held at Hosei University. First of all, President Toshio Masuda gave an opening address. Then, Mr. Ulf SÖRMRK, Minister-Counsellor of the Kingdom of Sweden, Mr. Peleg-Pablo LEWI, Acting Ambassador of Israel, and Mr. István GERELYES, Minister-counsellor of Hungary, made the audience welcoming remarks. After that, Ms. Fumiko ISHIOKA, Representative of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, and Professor Hasegawa gave them keynote speeches. Ms. Ishioka told them about the accomplishments of Mr. Raoul Wallenberg and their significance and Professor Hasegawa indicated the accomplishments of Mr. Sugihara Chiune and insistence on humanitarian diplomacy and global justice in the context of the Westphalia world of nation states of which concern has remained national security and interest. Various issues and opinions were then expressed by three panelists: Mr. Masaaki SHIRAISHI, Deputy Director Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Professor Mikiko ETO, Department of Politics, Faculty of Law, and Dr. Vesselin POPOVSKI, Senior Academic Programme Officer of the United Nations University. The discussion became lively and heated at a time. After panel discussion, a few participants made comments and asked questions. At the end of the discussion session, Professor Hasegawa a summary of views expressed and Professor Yoshiro Fukuda, Hosei University Executive Vice President, gave closing remarks. (Moe Kurisu)
On 14th November 2012, Ms. Mika Iwasaki, an official from the World Bank, visited Hosei University and delivered a lecture on the World Bank and Japan. First she explained the World Bank Group including IBRD and IDA, and their organization. Second, she explained the organizational transition in terms of its institutional structure and its approach to development. The World Bank was established in 1944 for reconstruction of the war-torn countries after the WWⅡ and the priority development agenda have continuously changed since 1950s. Third she talked about the relationship between Japan and the World Bank. Japan received loans from the World Bank during 1950s and 1960s. Before Japan finished paying back in 1967, Japan started supporting developing countries through IDA, one of the arms of the World Bank. Now Japan is the second largest shareholder of the World Bank. Fourth, its organization reforms such as governance and voice were explained. Finally she showed the operational results from the World Bank’s latest annual report. (Yui Narikawa)
On 7th November 2012, Professor Hasegawa briefly explained the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He delineated the relevance of eight MDG goals; Japan’s contributions and the roles of international organizations to help achieve MDG goals respectively. Then he gave the students a MDGs related homework for submission on December 5th. After that, the mid-term examination about MDGs was held. (Yasuki Uchiyama)
On 16th October 2012, Professor Yozo Yokota gave a stimulating lecture on “International Law and Global Governance”. Professor Yokota had taught international law at Chuo University, University of Tokyo and International Christian University for over forty years and currently serves as President of the Center for Human Rights Education and Training, Chairperson of the ILO Committee of Experts and President of Japan Association for United Nations Studies. He began his lecture by giving his definition of “Global Governance”. He stated: “Global governance is an ability of various responsible actors to address and manage global issues adequately in order to ensure safety, health, wellbeing and meaning life to mankind.” He further analyzed the three main concepts of this definition, namely, “actors”, “global issues” and “adequacy of addressing and management”. He then explained the meaning of “international law”. According to Professor Yokota, “international law is a system of law to regulate the relationship between States, international organizations, individuals, civil society organizations, enterprises and other actors in the world community.” He further pointed out that, while international law has contributed to ensure global governance in the past, there are still serious limitations such as lack of provisions and insufficiency of enforcement. He concluded that, in order to strengthen the role of international law to promote good governance, more efforts are needed to make better use of the provision of Article 13, paragraph 1(a), of the UN Charter, which reads: “encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification.” (Misa Komine)
On 10th October, 2012, Mr. Kazuhiro Kuno, the director of the UN Planning and Administration Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, gave a lecture on the UN and Japan’s diplomacy towards the UN. First he illustrated the role of the UN and the changes of the UN functions over years. The UN covers almost all global issues in the world as the only comprehensive and universal international organization. Secondly he talked about issues in the 21st century and reform of the UN according to the background of changing realities of international society, including globalization and the advance in information technology. In these changing environments, the UN has been tackling such issues as environment, infection, refugee, climate change and so forth. Most acute problems the international society is faced with at this moment can be characterized as “internal problems” such as ethnic problems, issues related to internally displaced persons (IDPs), democracy. He noted that the legitimacy of the UN activities in these fields is increasing. Thirdly he explained Japan’s diplomacy towards the UN. Japan has been consistently promoting its diplomacy in the fields of disarmament, human rights, and fragile states assistance. Japan also has been contributing to the activities of the UN by means of human resources and budget as well. Japan’s multilateral diplomacy has been conducted parallel to its bilateral diplomacy. Finally after his lecture, he responded to some questions and comments from students. (Yuhi Kawase)
On 3rd October 2012, Ms. Naoko Hashimoto, the Programme Manager in IOM Tokyo Office, gave the students an informative lecture of two organizations: IOM and UNHCR. She emphasized the importance of IRO (International Refugee Organization) in understanding the births of IOM and UNHCR during 1950s. Firstly, she explained the activity of IOM. IOM primary focuses on promotion of humane and orderly migration in a way to benefit both migrants, including refugees, and sending/receiving societies. It has a lot of local offices so they can work in every corner effectively around the world. Secondly, she talked about UNHCR. She focused on the legal definition of refugees and how the activities of UNHCR have evolved during the past 60 years. Finally, she explained the relation between IOM and UNHCR and explained about Refugee Resettlement, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), climate change and migrants/refugees, and development and IOM / UNHCR. (Misa Komine)
On 2nd October, 2012, Mr. Isilio Antonio de Fatima Coelho da Silva, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Embassy of Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, visited Hosei University, and gave his lecture as the third class of the global governance. The theme was “Reconstruction and state building in Timor-Leste: its accomplish, progress and vision for future”. At first, the ambassador explained the civil war of the 90s, and emphasized two causes, namely, decolonization and the Cold War. Concretely, decolonization was premature for Timor-Leste of the day since the government lost the adequate capacity, and the struggle for power between the United States and the Soviet Union also embroiled it in the dispute. Thus, these two factors provoked the civil war. And then, the ambassador mentioned the United Nations peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations. With referring to the case of Timor-Leste, all attendance, including the ambassador, professors, and students, confirmed that the United Nations has played the dedicated role toward peace in post-conflict countries. As the ambassador asserted, Timor-Leste is growing as a peaceful country now. Its accomplish, progress, and vision for the future, gave an audience further expectations toward the brighter future. (Risa Kato)
On 26th September 2012, in his introductory lecture on international organizations in the second term, Professor Hasegawa spoke first about the functional growth of the international organizations’ roles in economic, social, development and humanitarian affairs. He delineated the functional roles played by such organizations as ITU, ILO, UNEP and UNHCHR in fulfilling specific needs of the international community in telecommunication, labor standards, environmental and human rights. He also explained the special status and roles of IAEA and UN OCHA. IAEA is the organization that promotes peaceful use of atomic energy and carries out measures that prevent military application of such energy. IAEA has a unique methodology for election of its 35 Board Member States. Thirteen members are designated by the previous and 22 are elected on a geographical basis. Council Professor Hasegawa mentioned that UN OCHA is the central office that coordinates the activities of UN agencies and international NGOs in support of the victims of natural disaster and conflicts. The important roles are promotion of consistency and effectiveness. Secondly, Professor Hasegawa explained about a series of United Nations reform initiatives taken by then Secretary-General Kofi Anna in 1997 and by the General Assembly in 2005. He also mentioned the Delivering as One proposal made by a High Level Panel in 2006. (Daiki Kawabe)
On 25th September, 2012, Professor Hasegawa gave the students his second lecture on global governance. First, he explained a realist approach to world politics and referred to Hans Morgenthau. According to Morgenthau’s argument, sovereign states are regarded as the key actors, and they act rationally to ensure their national interests in international relations. Second, the professor expounded neo-realism and presented Kenneth Waltz’s contention that there is a structure even in the anarchic world. He indicated the weakness of international laws and the epiphenomenal character of international organizations. Third, the students gained insight into liberalism and neo-liberalism. They learned that several factors such as collective security, democratic peace, democracy promotion, integration between states and interdependence play a crucial role in the theory of liberalism. In addition, it’s worth mentioning the fact that the professor emphasized human rights, freedom, private ownership and other norms as significant elements of liberalism in the international relations. In addition, the professor indicated four kinds of liberalism namely, commercial liberalism, republic liberalism, sociological liberalism, and liberal institutionalism, at the end of the lecture. (Minako Ishikawa)
On 19th September 2012, Professor Hasegawa gave a lecture on the roles and activities of international organizations in economy, social development and humanitarian aid. First, he returned the students their previous term exam results and provided them with explanations. Some students read their own answers on essay questions to the class. Second, he explained the class plan for the fall semester. He then continued to explain the relations of international organizations and 11 funds and programs established by the General Assembly and 15 UN Specialized Agencies that reported to the Economic and Social Council. He categorized them in term of their origins, functions and roles. He noted the political factors that influenced the conduct of international organizations. (Yuko Honda)
On 18th September, 2012, Professor Hasegawa started his course on global governance with an explanation of its objective, schedule, grading method and reference books. He expected the students to be able to explain and discuss in English various theories and concepts of global governance by the end of the course in January 2013. Professor Hasegawa then identified four types of the globalization taking place in security, economic, environmental, and social/cultural spheres. Moreover, he explained the significance of global governance in the worlds of both Westphalia and post-Westphalia order. He referred to a definition given by the Commission on Global Governance and nine new global threats identified by the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change in its report A more secure world: Our shared responsibility published in December 2004. Finally, he introduced realism and discussed its relevance to global governance. He said he would introduce and examine later the relevance of other theories of international relations and global governance such neo-realism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, functionalism, social-constructivism, and critical theories. (Yasuki Uchiyama)
On 11th July 2012, in his the end-of-semester lecture, Professor Hasegawa reviewed first the changing roles of international organizations.Then he introduced the theories of Functionalism and Neo-Functionalism developed by David Mitrany and Ernst Haas respectively. Second he reviewed the birth and growth of international organization. He explained the causes for and lessons learned from the collapse of the League of Nation. Professor Hasegawa then presented a practical overview of the key issues arising in the relationship between international law and national law. Most of the countries accorded the highest authority to their national constitutions and tried to accommodate international treaties into their domestic legal system once their legislatures have ratified them. Professor Hasegawa explained the differences in how respective countries have dealt with the international legal agreements. In case of Japan, its constitution in article 98 stipulates the following: (1) this Constitution shall be the supreme law of the nation and no law, ordinance, imperial rescript or other act of government or part thereof, contrary to the provisions hereof, shall have legal force or validity; (2) the treaties concluded by Japan and established laws of nations shall be faithfully observed. Finally professor Hasegawa explained the need for the Japanese to play a more active role in international organizations. (Yuhi Kawase)
On 4th July 2012, Mr. Tomonori Yoshizaki, Director of the Security Studies Department of the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) of the Ministry of Defense, delivered a lecture on the evolving roles of international organizations from the viewpoint of collective security. First, he explained the collective security mechanism and three criteria of effective collective security, namely certainly, utility and inclusivity. Secondly, he provided a detailed explanation about the origin, growth and transformation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). As its mission goal, NATO started with the collective defense of the North Atlantic region during the Cold War. It then transformed itself with the expansion of its membership from 12 to 28 countries many of which are from the Eastern Europe and with the addition of providing security to not only its members but also countries suffering from humanitarian and other crisis. Professor Yoshizaki noted in summary that NATO had acquired a strategic nature in its crisis management by undertaking military interventions of coercive diplomacy and adopting a comprehensive approach aimed at protecting civilians in crisis, stabilization and security sector reform. The areas and countries in which NATO has undertaken military operations included Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya. Professor Yoshizaki also explained the difference between Libyan and Syrian situations and the implications of the establishment of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). (Yuko Honda)
On 3rd July 2012, Dr. Appolinaire Essomba, Acting Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary of The Republic of Cameroon in Tokyo, gave a lecture about the Republic of Cameroon to students of Hosei University. First of all, Dr. Essomba mentioned that there are many people in Cameroon each with different religious, racial and ethnic background. Although they live under different circumstances, they live in harmony and peace in Cameroon. He also said that Cameroon tries to cooperate with other international countries. When Cameroon had a territorial dispute with Nigeria, Cameroon managed to solve this problem in a peaceful way. They did not resort to an armed conflict. At last, Dr. Essomba said, it is more important rather to cooperate with other countries than to solve problems by force in today’s global society. (Mai Uchida)
On June 19th 2012, Mr. Kazushige Taniguchi, Special Representative from Japan for The World Bank visited Hosei University and delivered a lecture on The World Bank in The Multi-Polar Economy. First, he insisted on the Developing Countries’ Rising Role and background of developing countries. Although developing countries are playing a key role in the global growth, those countries still have some issues. For example, high percentage of population without access to electricity, excessive numbers of deaths of female population and children under the age of five and high emission of CO2. Second, he made statements on Japanese economy and population. Total Population of Japan has been continuously decreasing since 2005, the year which the peak of the Japanese population was at and GDP of Japan is not growing after the collapse of Japan’s economic bubble. Finally, Mr. Taniguch explained general description of The World Bank. He said that The World Bank is the largest international development financial institution in the world and provides long-term development assistance to developing countries by cooperating with The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in comparing countries. He also explained about “World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings” that is to be held in Japan this year. (Minako Ishikawa)
On 12th June 2012, Professor Hasegawa delivered a lecture on liberalism and international political economy. Adam Smith claimed that wealth of nation increases if economic activities are left to the invisible hand. David Ricardo said that the theory of comparative advantage explains the benefit of free trade. They insisted that a government should leave men and their activities alone and not to regulate them. Liberalism has three variations. It is market, institutional and republican liberalism. Interdependence makes nation states to seek stability and peace while international organizations set norms and rules to enable states to cooperate. Secondly, Professor Hasegawa explained the Neo-liberalism. The market should function without government intervention. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan are the ones who carried this out. By various systems such as GATT or WTO, the doctrine advocating global free market gained strength. Then John Williamson made the Washington consensus which called for restructuring, deregulation, tax reform, tariff abolition, free capital movement, etc. Thirdly, Professor Hasegawa explained the implications of financial crises that took place during the last two decades The Asian Financial Crisis started in Thailand and spread to Indonesia, South Korea and other parts of Asia and Russia in late 1990s. This was a sudden loss of confidence in national currencies of these countries. The world financial crisis that continues up to today began by the extension of excess subprime loans in 2007. Finally, he explained the nature and extent of the current European sovereign debt crisis. Many European countries are suffering from enormous debts from huge public expenditure and capital shortage in banks. The amount of public expenditures has been kept relatively low in comparison with other advanced countries. The number of public servants in Japan is less than almost all other industrialized countries of Europe and North America. Japanese banks which had most serious problem in the 1990s now have low loan deposit ratios and stronger a capital liquidity position than European banks. But, the level of Japan`s government and public sector debt is excessively high at about twice the amount of Japan’s gross domestic product. The public debt has to be curtailed lest it would eventually impact the national solvency. (Daiki Kawabe)
On 6th June 2012, Professor Hasegawa lectured on two principles that governed the conditions of international civil servants working in the UN common system. The Noblemaire Principle set a salary scale of UN staff based on the highest paid national civil service and that the US federal civil service had been used as the comparator civil service. The second principle called the Flemming Principle stipulated that local staff of the UN system should be paid “best prevailing local rates” and according to “best prevailing local conditions.” Professor Hasegawa then explained in details the salaries and allowances of the UN’s the terms of employment. The salaries consisted of basically professional and general service. Their levels are decided on the competence and experience. The amount of salary is adjusted on the location of staff assignment post. UN staff also benefitted from education, dependency and other grants as well as annual, sick, maternity and other leaves. Professor Hasegawa analyzed the implications of UN staff benefits and allowances in terms of wider doctrines such as liberal and social democracy. Finally, he asked the students about their views on the applications of the Noblemaire and Flemming principles, which the students found reasonable and attractive particularly for female workers. The students were then given five minutes to write down their views. (Yasuki Uchiyama)
On June 5th 2012, Ms. Keiko Yanai who is the Senior Coordinator, Non-Proliferation, Science and Nuclear Energy Division, Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lecture on the non-proliferation politics. First, she talked about means of arms reduction and nonproliferation, and explained that they are needed for three reasons; the military security, humanitarianism and the economical development. Also, she referred to the present condition of nuclear states in the world, the general outline of NPT and rules of IAEA and Japanese policies on arms reduction and nonproliferation. Next, she talked about termination attempt on the use of CCM as a case-study for international struggle for arms reduction and nonproliferation. Then, she referred to the UN’s process on reduction and nonproliferation and noted that the diplomacy is to adjust the profits and national interests states have to promote. Finally, she argued that the cooperation with a civil society is required for nations to encourage the reduction and non proliferation. (Sayaka Yatabe)