History as Present in East Asia:A Geopolitical Perspective

Profil :
Karoline Postel-Vinay is a senior researcher at the National Foundation for Political Science in Paris. She holds a master’s degree from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO), and a PhD from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). She specializes in international relations theory and Northeast Asian politics. Her latest book, Le G20, laboratoire d’un monde émergent, a geopolitical analysis of the G20 has been published in French in 2011, and translated into Spanish and English.

Résumé :
Regional cooperation in East Asia is hindered by the continuing historical disputes between the region’s main powers, China, Japan and Korea. While the end of the bipolar order opened some space of cooperation, albeit with limitations – the Korean division as well as the PRC/Taiwan division are still major sources of conflict – the rise of nationalism in the early 21st century has brought new uncertainties. Seemingly irreconcilable positions have re-emerged around a variety of issues ranging from the ownership of islets in the East Asian seas to the collective memory of the Pacific War.
This presentation aims at making sense of the recurring tensions in East Asia by taking into account a variety of historical and geopolitical legacies from the break-up of the Chinese empire in the mid-nineteenth century to the outcomes of the Cold War in the region.

Moderator:

Jean-Michel BUTEL (UMIFRE 19-MFJ)

Organisation : Bureau français de la MFJ.
Co-org.: CCIFJ,
amb. de France au Japon/Institut français du Japon
In English without translation