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Conferences/Events/Lectures

GIGA Forum Lecture Series:

Latest Event

GIGA Forum in Review
Audio contributions, pictures and powerpoint presentations

GIGA IMES well represented at the DAVO Annual Congress 2009
The most important German-language Middle East conference, organised by the German Middle East Studies Association (DAVO), took place at the University of Bonn between October 8 and 10, 2009. Jun.-Prof. Dr. Juliane Brach and Dr. Thomas Richter were actively involved in this event, organising panels and presenting and discussing papers on the following topics: the world financial crisis and its impact on the Middle East, coup d’états and elections in Mauritania, and the regional order of the Middle East in the twenty-first century (link to the program).

Violent Life-Worlds. Vicious Circles and Exit Options for Youths
The workshop „Violent Life-Worlds. Vicious Circles and Exit Options for Youths” took place at GIGA on October 28-30, 2009. The workshop was organised by GIGA in cooperation with the GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit). (report)

AEGIS Thematic Conference
Power Sharing Agreements in Africa: Implications for Peace, Democracy and Societal Trust
The AEGIS Thematic Conference, sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, took place at the GIGA Institute of African Affairs on October1-2, 2009. Power sharing is a prominent aspect of most recent African peace settlements (Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Burundi, Liberia, Sudan, etc.), although there are important variations in the form it can take. The implications for peace, democracy and societal trust vary accordingly. This thematic conference, within the AEGIS framework, drew on a wide variety of disciplinary approaches and country experiences.

Conference Program
Conceptual Framework
Annotated Bibliography

GIGA Very Active at the ECPR General Conference 2009
Numerous GIGA researchers and Ph.D. students attended the 5th ECPR General Conference in Potsdam, September 10-12, 2009. GIGA researchers co-organised the section on Latin American politics and chaired or acted as discussants not only in Latin America-related panels on problems and methods in the study of comparative politics, on judicial politics and on the uncertainties of democracy but also in panels dealing with the decline of democracy, informal institutions in different world regions and the (in)stability of authoritarian regimes. GIGA researchers also tabled or presented papers on constitutional reform in Latin America; the decline of democracy; the breakdown of democracy in Thailand; presidential interruptions in Latin America; the connections between ethnic and religious diversity, natural resources and civil war; neo-patrimonialism in different world regions; subjectivity in post-structuralism; and tax administration in the Philippines and Indonesia. GIGA also exhibited its publications and sponsored a reception on behalf of the Journal of Politics in Latin America.

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Projects

DFG Agrees to Continue Funding the “Is Resource Wealth a Risk Factor?” Project
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has agreed to continue funding the “Is Resource Wealth a Risk Factor? On the Importance of Contextual Conditions for the Connection Between Natural Resources and Violence in Non-OECD States” project. The next funding period of 12 months – to begin in January 2010 – will include three half-time positions (50%) and two research assistant positions. Expenses for materials will also be covered. The half-time positions are to be filled by Annegret Mähler, Miriam Shabafrouz and Dr. Tim C. Wegenast. The project is directed by Dr. Matthias Basedau.

Study on China's engagement in Southeast Asia
The GIGA Institute of Asian Studies has been commissioned by the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to conduct a research project on China's development cooperation with Southeast Asia. The research project will be carried out with Southeast Asian partners. For more information on the project: Dr. Margot Schüller and Dr. Marco Bünte.

Research Project on Financing Innovation in the Use of Solar Energy
(Cooperation Partners: GIGA / Leuphana Universit Lüneburg)
The project “Financial Solutions for Innovative and Sustainable Development in the Energy Sector” funds by BMBF analyses the relationship between private and public actors in the context of innovative financial solutions in the energy sector in Germany and Europe (Leuphana University section; Prof. Dr. Heinrich Degenhart; Dipl.Vw. Lars Holstenkamp) as well as in a non-European context (Costa Rica und Tanzania; GIGA section; Prof. Dr. Robert Kappel and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hein). Contact: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hein. More...

DFG funds research project on hybrid regimes in Africa
The German Research Foundation (DFG) has agreed to fund the research project “Causes of hybrid regimes in sub-Saharan Africa – a systematic comparison”. The project will study the path-dependent development of different regime types. It will run for two years and is associated with the GIGA’s Research Programme 1. The project applicant and director is Dr. Gero Erdmann. Alexander Stroh and Sebastian Elischer, M.A., MIS.

The impact of structural militarization on post-war Eritrean society
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation has agreed to fund the new research project "The consequences of structural militarisation of the Eritrean society after the war with Ethiopia”. The project will run for two years and is associated with GIGA Rresearch Programme 2. It will be implemented by Dr. Nicole Hirt. The project applicant is Dr. Andreas Mehler.

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New Publications

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Latest Issues of GIGA Journal Family:

Africa Spectrum: 2/2009
Journal of Current Chinese Affairs : 4/2009
Journal of Politics in Latin America: 3/2009
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs: 4/2009

GIGA Working Paper:

No 122 David Shim: How Signifying Practices Constitute Food (In)security – The Case of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, February 2010 (Abstract & full article)

Latest Issues of GIGA Focus (German-language version only):

Afrika Nr. 12, 2009:	125 Jahre Berliner Afrika-Konferenz: Bedeutung für Geschichte und Gegenwart (Andreas Eckert)
Asien Nr. 1, 2010:	Nordkorea nach Kim Jong Il: Ein zweiter dynastischer Machtwechsel? (Patrick Köllner)
Global Nr. 11, 2009:	Zivilisierung der Weltordnung. Vom Nutzen transnationaler Normbildungs-Netzwerke (Cord Jakobeit, Robert Kappel und Ulrich Mückenberger)
Lateinamerika Nr. 12, 2009:	Konkurrierender Regionalismus: Fünf Jahre UNASUR und ALBA (Daniel Flemes unter Mitarbeit von Lotte Westermann)
Nahost Nr. 12, 2009:	Ein Jahr nach dem Gazakrieg: ist der Nahe Osten noch arabisch? (André Bank und Morten Valbjørn)
New: International Edition Nr. 1, 2009:	Getting Off Lightly? The Impact of the International Financial Crisis on the Middle East and North Africa (Juliane Brach and Markus Loewe)

Selected external publications by GIGA staff:

Llanos, Mariana/Mainstentredet, Leiv (eds): Presidential Breakdowns in Latin America, Causes and Outcomes of Executive Instability in Developing Democracies, Palgrave, New York, 2010 (Flyer)

New Publications on Global Health Governance

Huhn, Sebastian: A history of nonviolence? The social construction of Costa Rican peaceful identity, in: Social Identities, Volume 15 Issue 6, November 2009, pp. 787-810.

Marco Bünte: Kampf der Giganten. Die Krise in Thailand ist eine Auseinandersetzung der Eliten, Internationale Politik, 1/2009, 96-100.

Sammelband: "Ostasien in der Globalisierung". Aussenpolitik und Internationale Ordnung, Hanns W. Maull/Martin Wagener (Hrsg.), Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2009. Enthält Beiträge von Marco Bünte, Johannes Gerschewski, Patrick Köllner und Dirk Nabers.

Gilley, Bruce/Holbig, Heike (2009): The Debate on Party Legitimacy in China: A Mixed Quantitative/Qualitative Analysis, in: Journal of Contemporary China, no.18(59), March 2009, pp. 339-358.

Köllner, Patrick (2009): “Japanese Lower House Campaigns in Transition: Manifest Changes or Fleeting Fads?“, Journal of East Asian Studies, 9 (1), pp. 121-149.

Beck, Martin/Gerschewski, Johannes: On the Fringes of the International Community. The Making and Survival of "Rogue States", in: Sicherheit und Frieden/Security and Peace, 27 (2009) 2, pp. 84-89 (Special Issue on "International Community - Rhetoric and Reality", edited by Berit Bliesemann de Guevara/Florian Kühn), forthcoming.

Personnel Matters

Current vacancies:

For current vacancies see: www.giga-hamburg.de/english/jobs.

David Camroux new co-editor of the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
David Camroux, professor at Sciences Po's renowned Centre d'études et de recherches internationales (CERI) in Paris, joins the Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs as co-editor in January 2010. Dr Marco Buente from the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies will continue to serve as the other co-editor of the journal. GIGA's peer-reviewed social-science quarterly on political, economic and social developments in Southeast Asia became an open-access publication in 2009. GIGA is happy to have David Camroux onboard and expects academic links between CERI and GIGA to further strengthen in consequence. Since 2008, the two institutes have cooperated within the framework of the Regional Powers Network.

Two Young India Specialists Join the GIGA
In November 2009, two young scholars working on South Asia joined the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies. Sandra Destradi, M.A., focuses on India's foreign policy and on international relations in South Asia more generally. In October 2009 she submitted her Ph.D. thesis on India's foreign policy towards Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka to Hamburg University's Institute of Political Science. The thesis was developed within GIGA's own Ph.D. programme and is embedded in the institute's research agenda on new regional powers. Dr. Daniel Neff defended his Ph.D. thesis, which deals with poverty and well-being in India, at the University of Manchester in July 2009 and will investigate economic and social matters in India in his work at the GIGA. Until the end of March 2010 he will also be involved in a research project run by the University of Oxford which focuses on links between poverty and education in four countries. Within this project, Dr. Neff is in charge of the case study in India, which entailins field research in Andhra Pradesh, and will also contribute to the case study on Vietnam.

GIGA and the University of Hamburg appoint Prof. Dr. Henner Fürtig as IMES director and full professor for Middle East Studies
The GIGA and the University of Hamburg have appointed Prof. Dr. Henner Fürtig as director of the GIGA Institute of Middle East Studies (IMES) and full professor for Middle East Studies, effective October 1, 2009, following a joint hiring process. The chair is situated in the History Department at Hamburg University. (Press Release)

Three GIGA Scholars Join Board of the German Association for Asian Studies
Dr. Günter Schucher and Dr. Margot Schüller, senior research fellows at the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies, were re-elected to the board of the German Association for Asian Studies (DGA) at the association's general meeting in Berlin on May 14, 2009. Dr. Marco Bünte was elected to the DGA’s board for the first time.

Other updates

GIGA Researchers Meet Members of the Bundestag at "Science meets Parliament"
On 16 and 17 June, 2009, GIGA researchers Prof. Dr. Henner Fürtig (IMES) and Dr. Matthias Basedau (IAA) held one-on-one talks with 10 members of the German lower house, the Bundestag. They discussed the topics of "Dialogue with Islamism – Breaking a Taboo or Seizing an Opportunity?" (Fürtig) and "Conflict Scenarios Related to Strategic Natural Resources" (Basedau) with the deputies. Within its political consultation scheme "Science meets Parliament", the Leibniz Association organised some 60 meetings between academics and members of the Bundestag.

Africa Virtual Library on the Internet (Press release, June 25, 2009)
Central gateway to information on Africa for researchers now online
Finding relevant literature on a specific African topic or country is now possible with the “internet library sub-saharan Africa” (ilissAfrica), which is now online and accessible to everyone. Users can search for books, anthologies, journal articles and Internet resources at www.ilissafrica.de. They are then led directly to the corresponding website or shown at which library the book or journal article can be found.

GIGA Journals Available Free –of Charge on the Internet (Press release)
The four renowned academic journals of the GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies are now available online and free –of charge. Every Internet user can access the full content of the GIGA Journal Family at no cost, which means that the reach of the journals is now significantly greater. Contact: Dr. Andreas Holtz, Open Access Project Coordinator.

The GIGA’s Berlin Office
As of April 1, 2009, the GIGA is now present in the capital city through a Berlin office. The role of the office’s staff is first and foremost the enhancement of the GIGA’s activities in Berlin, particularly in the areas of political consultation and knowledge transfer.

Renowned US Think Tank Brookings Institution Publishes Policy Recommendations by GIGA Researcher Bert Hoffmann
The internationally renowned Brookings Institution has published an article on US-Cuban relations by Dr. Bert Hoffmann (ILAS) in a compilation of policy recommendations for the Obama administration regarding US policies vis-à-vis Latin America: Turning the Symbol Around: Returning Guantánamo Bay to Cuba, in: Abraham F Lowenthal/Theodore Piccone/Laurence Whitehead (ed.), The Obama Administration and the Americas. Agenda for Change, Washington D.C.: The Brookings Institution 2009, pp. 136-144.

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