Michael Yahuda, Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Politics, University of London, visited the Asian Center last 18 February 2014.

The visit is part of his ongoing research on China’s relations with neighboring countries. Currently on an eight-nation visit across Southeast Asia, he met with Dr. Aileen Baviera, Professor of Asian Studies at the Asian Center. 

Professor Yahuda specializes on Chinese politics, foreign policy, and the international relations of the Asia-Pacific. He is the author of The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific, 1945–1995 and has recently published a new book, Sino-Japanese Relations after the Cold War: Two Tigers Sharing a Mountain.

PHOTO: Dr. Aileen Baviera with Professor Michael Yahuda

Mark Turner, Professor of Development, Policy, and Management, delivered a lecture, Democracy by Decree: The Case of Bhutan, last 6 February 2014 at the Seminar Room, Hall of Wisdom, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Professor Turner, who is also the Academic Director of the Pacific Leadership Program of the Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), discussed the 'unusual causes and course of events leading up to democratization' in Bhutan. He shows how 'common theories of democratization' do not adhere to Bhutanese society; there was, he points out 'no popular pressure, no economic crisis, no elite dissatisfaction, and no foreign interference.'

Turner argues, instead, that democratization was a 'top-down process in Bhutan.' He concluded with an assessment of the level and extent of democratic consolidation, analyzing the second national elections in 2013. 

Lahpai Seng Raw, a recipient of the 2013 Ramon Magsaysay Award gave a lecture to Asian Studies graduate students last Feb. 19 at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center, Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman. This is a part of the 2014 UP ASEAN Lecture Series co-organized by the Asian Center, Third World Studies Center, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, and the Center for International Studies.

Seng Raw is the Founder of Metta Foundation, which assists displaced persons in Myanmar due to ethnic conflicts and natural disasters. She shared her fifteen years of experience working with Myanmar’s ethnic minorities through the Farmer Field School, one of the foundation’s pioneering projects. Her discussion emphasized the significance of maintaining trust and communication between and among stakeholders in order to bring about lasting peace and order, given her country’s political and social environment.

Of Kachin origin, she has helped many of Myanmar’s ethnic minorities, including the Kachin, Shan, Karen, Pa’o, and Yakhine by providing healthcare, education, agricultural training and peace projects since the foundation’s establishment in 1998.