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Rising Powers: Global Public Policy Network Convenes at SIPA
For the first time, students from leading international public policy schools gathered at SIPA to examine the way rising powers are changing the world.
The Global Public Policy Network organized the conference on November 19 and 20, “Navigating a Multipolar World: Challenges and Opportunities.” Speakers included SIPA faculty, United Nations officials and the students themselves, who presented research on issues such as Chinese economic growth and African development aid.
Seventy-six students from six schools, including SIPA, took part in the conference. More than 50 SIPA students hosted the international guests.
An expert panel began with a discussion of global security challenges. The chair, Professor Elisabeth Lindenmayer of SIPA’s United Nations Studies Program, noted the divergence of priorities between the global north and south. While developed countries are focused on “hard threats” such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation, developing countries are more concerned about “soft threats” such as poverty, hunger and disease.
Panelists discussed the ways power is shifting toward China and other rapidly growing economies, and how significant global decisions are now being made in a new forum, the G-20. Singapore's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vanu Gopal Menon, argued for a closer relationship between the G-20 and the United Nations in order to include smaller nations in global decision-making.
Students welcomed the chance to share ideas with each other through research presentations and informal conversations.
“The opportunity to see what our peers are doing at other universities is obviously very unique,” said Andrew Christensen, a dual degree student at SIPA and the London School of Economics and Political Science. “Every school has a different type of policy perspective.”
In a session on emerging markets, for example, students presented research on trade, corruption, government transparency, and the spread of financial crises. Aneliya Nazirova, a dual degree student at the University of Singapore and the London School of Economics and Political Science, discussed Russia’s campaign to join the World Trade Organization.
Nazirova said that the conference provided the chance to test her ideas, incorporate feedback from other students and catch up with friends in the Global Public Policy Network.
“It's exciting,” she said. “It's like a big reunion.”
The Global Public Policy Network is a partnership between SIPA, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore and Sciences Po in Paris. The conference brought together students from these schools and from Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance and the University of Tokyo.