Join us for an engaging lecture about geopolitics and New Zealand's evolving role in the Indo-Pacific region presented by Professor Emeritus Roberto Rabel, a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.
Evolution of New Zealand’s strategic stance
SWPS University's Department of Asian Studies and East Asian Civilization Research Center would like to invite all interested parties to attend a guest lecture on geopolitics of Indo-Pacific region, which will be delivered by Professor Emeritus Roberto Rabel. With his extensive background in international relations, Professor Rabel promises a compelling exploration of the complexities and strategic challenges that New Zealand faces nowadays.
Over the past three decades, New Zealand’s ‘grand strategy’ has been to position itself as an engaged Asia-Pacific actor pushing for a more integrated region based on a liberal, multilateral and rules-based order. Until recently, the country was well served by its ‘liberal bet’ that the region will continue to enjoy peace and prosperity, fuelled economically by Chinese growth, protected militarily by American power and connected politically through ASEAN-centered mechanisms for regional dialogue. A serendipitous combination of domestic and external trends helped make New Zealand a quintessential Asia-Pacific player. New Zealand’s ‘liberal bet’, however, has been challenged by the reconceptualising of the region, which has driven an incremental adaptation of its Asia-Pacific strategy to reflect a more diffuse, complex and contested Indo-Pacific context.
The lecture will be conducted in English. The event will not be recorded or streamed online.
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Opening and Guest Speaker Introduction
Marcin Jacoby, Ph.D. / Associate Professor, Head of the East Asian Civilization Research Center
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New Zealand’s Indo-Pacific Challenge
Professor Emeritus Roberto Rabel, Victoria University of Wellington
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Q&A Session, Discussion, and Closing Remarks
Guest Speaker
Roberto Rabel
Professor Emeritus
Is a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). From 2006 to 2016, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at VUW. Since then, he has taught intermittently in International Relations at VUW and as a visiting professor at the University of Warsaw in Poland. Professor Rabel holds a B.A. Honours degree in History and International Politics from VUW and a Ph.D. in History from Duke University, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. His publications include an official history, New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and Diplomacy (2005). He was Vice-President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs from 2009 to 2021. Professor Rabel holds a Gold Cross of Merit and a “Bene Merito” award for services to Poland abroad from the Polish Government.
Organizers
Contact
Marcin Jacoby, Ph.D. / Associate Professor
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Date and Location
June 25, 2024, 18:00–19:30 CEST (UTC+2)
SWPS University in Warsaw, Chodakowska 19/31, room N312