HPAIR 2009 Academic Conference

Introduction

Dates: Aug 14 - 17, 2009
Venues: Shilla Seoul and Sungkyunkwan University
Location: Seoul, Republic of Korea
Schedule: Tentative

Description

The HPAIR Academic Conference is a 4-day academic program with six panel workshops, moderated by Harvard graduate students and conducted concurrently throughout the conference. The theme for the 2009 Academic Conference is "Evolving Asia: Path- ways in the Global Era."It seeks to capture the current condition of Asia in a broad sense as well as in regards to specific issues. Where are Asia's people heading? How will social issues be addressed in Asia? What role will Asia play in the energy crisis? In the financial crisis? We will be examining Asia's current situation from interdisciplinary perspectives, studying its past achievements and upcoming challenges.
For more information, see our brochure.

Conference Program

Workshops

The 2009 HPAIR Academic Conference will be framed around 6 specific workshops topics, exploring different aspects of a broad topic within political, economic, and cultural frameworks.

• Understanding Security Issues in East Asia

  East Asia is home to a plethora of security issues critical for, not only the Asian, but also for global peace and stability. The rise of China presents a major structural challenge in the Waltzian sense, as it alters the distribution of material capabilities among great powers, while the North Korean nuclear problem raises issues regarding non-proliferation and conventional threat perception. Concurrently, regional organizations, notably ASEAN and ARF, have meaningfully progressed and played a constructive role in managing security issues, while the so-called "history problems" troubled bilateral relations among the Northeast Asian nations. Regardless of which paradigmatic perspective one adopts, one can find evidence in East Asia that supports the particular theoretical stance(s) one accepts. The Security Workshop will examine the following issues: the rise of China, the North Korean nuclear issue and inter-Korean relations, constitutional revision debate in Japan, the comfort women issue, and ASEAN. We also hope to tour the demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel for our field trip. The workshop aims to deepen our current understanding of those security issues and how they could affect regional and global stability.

• Global Health in Asia

  Asia plays a critical part in global health. Emerging infectious diseases, such as the SARS epidemic in 2003 and the Avian Flu in the past few years, remind us how rapidly and profoundly the health of Asian populations can affect the rest of the world. At the same time, with the adoption of the so-called "western" life style and diet, many Asian countries are inflicted with the "double burden" of infectious and chronic diseases. Furthermore, most Asian societies are undergoing a rapid aging process, which has significant health, social, and economic impacts for countries in this region. What is confronting Asia is in fact the epitome of the major health challenges that global communities are facing. The workshop will explore the nature and implications of the major health challenges in Asia and examine some approaches adopted by the country governments to address these issues. This will prepare students in Asia, as well as in other regions, to contribute and lead at the forefronts of efforts to enhance the welfare of citizens in Asia and around the world.

• International Political Economy Workshop

  The IPE Workshop examines the challenges that East Asian economies face in the current global economic and financial crisis, and explores possible solutions. Asian financial markets, particularly those of export driven economies, have recently been devastated by the American credit crisis. Furthermore, perhaps the worst is yet to come, as consumer confidence in import nations falters. Asian energy needs are at an all time high, and in many parts of Asia, environmental degradation runs rampant. A US-Korea free trade agreement hangs in political purgatory, and the decrepit Marxist experiment that is North Korea continues to limp along to the detriment of its people. Will Asia's multilateral cooperative organizations like APEC and ASEAN be able to step up to the challenges that they face, and offer real substantive solutions? What (if any) effect will China's $586 billion domestic economic stimulus plan have on regional financial markets? What can, or should, the new U.S. administration do to help address these problems? Through a series of presentations by experts in the field, followed by discussion sessions with the delegates, the workshop will attempt to address the aforementioned challenges and questions. Furthermore, it will attempt to formulate policy recommendations for addressing these problems. The workshop will clearly be focused on economic issues, and takes a non-technical approach so as to be accessible to delegates without backgrounds in economics or finance.

• Educational Innovation in a Global Age

  In an increasingly interdependent world, the challenges of globalization have increased the demand for education to prepare young people for participation in a global community. The globalization process has also produced a rapid spread of competing ideologies and facilitated rapid shifts in thinking. Traditional notions of education and citizenship are being questioned as individuals are exposed to, and participate in, multi-national communities. With increased opportunities for young Asians to interact with people from different cultures and nationalities, education can no longer be static and uni-dimensional, and must to be re-designed to reflect a global mindset of understanding and collaboration. As existing social and cultural norms are being questioned and challenged in this globalized world, what can young Asians do to spearhead innovation and entrepreneurship in the education arena, to help improve educational quality and opportunities for all? The Education Workshop examines how education in East Asia has to evolve in response to increasing global demands, and explores various new curricula and approaches that would help to prepare Asian students with greater opportunities and skills to learn and lead in a global world.

• Leadership in Asia

  The Leadership Workshop aims to allow participants to discuss and analyze characterizations of leadership in Asia, presently as well as throughout history, the spheres in which leaders operate, and how that changes throughout time and across contexts. The goal is that the participants will use the sessions as mechanisms to discuss how they, as young adults, intend to re-define the future of leadership as they pursue work in various sectors and as they grapple with how to solve the world's most pressing problems. The Leadership Workshop will explore leadership concepts, pedagogy, the practice of leadership development, and the application of these notions to Asian societies and organizations. The workshop will provide students with an outlet to formulate and communicate their ideas of what leadership is and what it should be. Participants will be encouraged to talk about leadership in the context of their specific countries, as well as be encouraged to distill some general notions relative to leadership broadly, and specifically in Asian countries. Delegates will be charged to think about their own leadership development and their future contributions to leadership in Asia.

Plenary Sessions

• Plenary Session 1: Popular Culture and the Korean Wave

  The twentieth century witnessed great contests of hard power-military buildup and economic competition attracted the most attention, especially in the forty-five years of a bipolar world. However, as we move towards a multi-polar international community, another form of national power-soft power-has come into the spotlight as an interesting subject of study. Soft power measures elements that help a nation achieve its goals more easily when we hold economic development and military power constant. Culture, undoubtedly, is a significant component in the recipe. As globalization deepens, Asian cultures, with their unique taste of history and tradition, are revitalized in the Information Age. Now that Korean dramas, Japanese karaoke machines, Chinese pop music and Indian movies have become so popular across the globe, many argue that Asian popular culture is the major alternative to American popular culture. In fact, the widespread popularity of Korean popular culture gave it the nickname "the Korean Wave." As we applaud the success of Asian popular cultures, we should also take a moment to contemplate the causes of their popularity and the social implications of a booming entertainment industry in Asia. In this plenary session, delegates will have a chance to examine the driving forces behind the stars: how the producers and the entertainment industry shape popular culture, and how popular culture shapes the society we live in.

• Plenary Session 2: Environmental Issues in Asia

  The Asian economic miracle has a heavy and visible impact on the environment: rapid population growth, fast industrialization and deepening urbanization intensify the shortage of natural resources and exacerbate pollution, leading to diseases and even deaths. However, less visible are some other changes in the environment caused by development-the climate change, decreases in biological diversity, and many others. These environmental issues are not confined within the borders-when both the impact and the causes are global, it requires an international effort to address the grievances. During the plenary session, delegates will analyze the nature of environmental problems in Asia and their correlations with Asia's economic development pattern and unique political culture. The plenary session will also examine how sample nations in Asia are responding to the change while trying to preserve rapid development; how well their policies have worked so far; and how domestic efforts compare to international ones. Delegates will have a chance to hear insights from leading scholars as well as government officials who took part in international cooperation to combat environmental issues in Asia.

Fact Sheet

Please click here for an informational PDF file.

More information will be made available shortly.