International Relations from the Margins: Okinawa-Taiwan Relations Revisited

Taiwan and Okinawa have been purportedly among the sites over which great-power security competition is taking place and intensifying, with a likelihood of war in East Asia in the foreseeable future. How can we not only live with, but also think past, Westphalian international relations?

In this seminar taking place in Okinawa, Dr. Ching-Chang Chen of Ryukoku University will suggest that it is helpful to “turn international studies around,” i.e. to stop looking at the world only from the territorialized, state-centric, top-down, and great-powers-centered lens. The presentation will show that critical insights can be learned from a bottom-up orientation by turning our attention to the “margins” of sovereign states and excavating the discursive practices employed by relevant state and substate actors in framing, contesting, and (dis)assembling political claims over such “margins” as Okinawa and Taiwan. It will illustrate that post-Westphalian ways of thinking, doing, be(com)ing, and relating are already immanent/available in Okinawa-Taiwan relations.

*Please kindly note that this is an in-person event taking place in Okinawa. It will not be streamed online.


**Upcoming Seminars**
・June 21 (Wed.) @ Yokosuka, Kanagawa
"Shaping and Operationalizing Joint Strategies and Readiness: Challenges for Japan’s Defense Planning"

・June 28 (Wed.)  @ Misawa, Aomori
"The Chinese People's Liberation Army under the Xi Jinping Regime"

https://www.ycaps.org/spf-okinawa-chen