International Talkies

The Department of International Studies and History organized a guest lecture on “Brexit and Northern Island - some reflections on the confidence and supply agreement between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party” by Professor Paul Carmichael and Professor Venkat Iyer from Ulster University, UK. Professor Paul Carmichael began his talk on how BREXIT has become a talk of the show in international relations. He spoke on how British Isles is a disputed term. If the Prime Minister wins the upcoming general election of European Union (EU), then Britain will secede EU. He threw light on how David Cameron’s referendum was an unfulfilled election promise in 2015 and later in 2017 the Hung Parliament came into existence, these made Britain to move closer towards conservatism. 51.9% (17.4 million) of the population in UK have decided to leave the EU whereas 48.1% (16.1 million) have decided to remain as an integral part of EU. The entire issue for the Northern Island ste...

On 16 th November, 2019, the Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST(Deemde to Be University) in collaboration with National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) organised a research workshop to promote young voices in the field of International Studies. The event was titled “NIAS Strategic Forecast 2020” to accentuate the aim of the workshop which was to create predictions for 2020 based on events happening in 2019. The workshop saw participation of scholars from a variety of different institutes such as Christ University, Stella Maris College, Jain University and NIAS itself. The young participants also were diverse in their level of academics, ranging from Masters to MPhil and PhD scholars to Research Associates. The events was inaugurated by prominent personalities such as Prof. Shailesh Nayak, Amb. PS Raghavan and Prof. Sachin Chaturvedi. Amb. Raghavan advised the young scholars to not ignore domestic events in their pursuit to discern global happenings. Prof...

The Department of International Studies and History organized a guest lecture on “Innovation and International Business” by Professor Buckley from Sheffield University, UK. His interests lie in International Comparative Management and on International Business and Strategy. Professor Buckley stated that in this advanced age it is necessary to understand the need to innovate. The countries of the world play to showcase their best entrepreneurial drive and showcases their creativity via such credible and noteworthy inventions. The main challenge for innovation lies in the fact of lack of external and internal financial funding. He made the students to actively participate and ponder over what does it mean to be innovative. He states that innovation is a key to improvement in quality of life and stressed on its vital reason on the non-availability of infinite resources and hence we must move towards sustainability. This would now differentiate from the existing technology and incre...

The Department of International Studies and history has organised a 15 hours of lecture series of Professor John Dean of Catholic University of Paris, a well-read expert in American History and politics. The major areas of discussion in the 15 hour session is based around the theme, American Propaganda, Domestic and International, from World War One to the Present Time. The introductory session was held on 6 th  November 2019. The session was majorly focused upon how the entire module was planned and major areas of focus, which included topics like 9/11 and propaganda, Obama and soft power, US propaganda today, 1950s post war commodity propaganda, US 1920s propaganda and so on. The entire session was very interactive and students received an opportunity to raise their opinions as well as pose some questions to the guest. Some of the interesting questions included on how economic growth helps to spread propaganda or does propaganda leads to economic growth? Why does propa...

The Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), organized a Skype conference with students from KU Leuven, Belgium, on 7 th  November, 2019. Along with students, were professors from the two institutions. The theme of discussion was post-colonialism. While, the purpose of such a confabulation was to facilitate a continuous and consistent dialogue between students who study the concept of post-colonialism from very different lenses, the session was merely an introductory one, wherein the faculty in-charge from both institutions introduced their respective class and set down basic parameters that were to be followed during the course of the interaction, which was as discussed, to extend to nearly a month. This introductory session, set out various pre-requisites as well as requirements for the successful fruition of this interaction. The students are essentially, over multiple sessions, expected to discuss multiculturalism, migration and...

The Department of International Studies and History organized a guest lecture on “The Future of the Liberal International Economic Order” by Professor Marc Williams, Associate Dean (International) Arts and Social Sciences and Professor of International Relations from UNSW Arts & Social Sciences, Australia. Professor Williams stressed on the definition of Liberal International Economic Order as a starting point of the lecture. He sided with the existence of the Order and stated its collapse as being detrimental to everyone. He divided the lecture into 3 major segments – Concept of Liberal International Economic Order and Global Economic Governance, Understanding the Liberal International Economic Order; and the Liberal International Economic Order and a Globalizing World Economy. He stressed on the fact that, presently, the Liberal International Economic Order is in crisis and further explored the question - ‘why does it matter?’. Professor Williams stated that the base o...

The Department of International Studies and History organised a global class in collaboration with Durham College, Canada on the topic, Democracy and Media. The focus this time was on India's recent elections and what Canada can learn from the same about media involvement . Students and faculties had an engaging session where thoughts and insights about democracy in India and Canada were exchanged.

The Department of International Studies and History in collaboration with the Consulates General of Switzerland and Israel is organizing within the framework “ Leadership Beyond Duty” Exhibition and Screening of the Swiss documentary film “Carl Lutz – The Hidden Hero” .   The session was inaugurated by Professor Manoharan who gave brief introduction to the programme. Ariel Seidman, Deputy Consul General of Israel to South India addressed the gathering by showing two videos, which featured the tragic past of the Holocaust. In the video, there was a mention of numerous brave people, who put their lives at risk during the Holocaust, to rescue the Jews. These brave people have been honoured, through the years, by Israel. They are given the ‘Righteous Among the Nations’, an honorific title, to honour their (non-Jews) efforts to save the Jews from extermination by the Nazis.  Sébastien Hug, CEO and Consul General at Swissnex India, Consulate General of Switzerland, t...

An International Affairs Quiz was held for all the students of CHRIST (Deemed to be University) by LYCEUM, the Post Graduate Association of Department of International Studies and History on 13 th September, 2019.Some of the themes covered in the quiz were: ·          Foreign Policies of India, US, Russia and China. ·          Current news and events of international politics ·          General knowledge on countries and their governments. The quiz witnessed a huge turnout and was a learning experience for both the participants and the audience.

The Department of International Studies and History organised a guest lecture on 18th September 2019 regarding internship availability for students which was given by Dr Gladston who works as a Professor at Loyola College, Advisor of UNHCR and as Deputy Commissioner for Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. As an expert into International Peace and Conflict Studies, he has listed out the following places where one can do internship: 1. Apply for the 50 bodies in UN via the UNV and VSO exam. ·          The UNV exam- United Nations Volunteers which is divided into - 1. Human Rights 2. Humanitarian 3. Political through which one can avail internship/ jobs for a period of minimum 6 months. ·          The VSO exam- Volunteer Service Overseas which is a paid internship to work for NVPF- Non-Violent Peace Force on the post of International Protector. 2. To be a CAUX scholar where 5 Indians are selected. ...

Interaction of cultures is very essential in order to increase cooperation and understanding in this globalized world. The department of international studies and history organized an interactive session between the first-year students of Department of International Studies and History and the exchange program students from Netherlands, on 14 th  September 2019. Considering this as an opportunity to learn and understand about two countries, in terms of culture, custom, tradition and even educational system, the students from Netherlands provided a brief account of   their country, by addressing the stereotypes associated, food, culture, economy, and educational system. The programme was interesting and engaging enabling students to converse upon wide ranging topics, including the political structure of each nations. The student of MAIS also guided them in understanding more about India, while the students from Netherlands were amazed by the amount of diversity especially wi...

The Department of International Studies and History organized a workshop on Risk Management and Career Option by Dr. Arpit Rajain, Director (Executive) and VP, Risk, India Bound, who has 20 years’ experience in risk management professional. Students from 3MAIS had interned at the organization during their summer break. Accordingly, the workshop was conducted to provide the students with the diversity of career opportunities in risk management available after their post-graduation. Dr. Rajain began the talk by quoting Thomas Friedman's work - 'The World is Flat' emphasizing on the globalized nature of the world in the 21st century. He, further, detailed about the expansion of Multinational Corporations (MNCs), especially in the context of India. He cites examples of Amazon, Accenture, Deloitte and their large operations in India, and Bengaluru. Giving a brief of companies and their expansion, he stressed on the need for analyzing risks for such wide network of MNC...

The Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), organized a guest lecture on ‘Scholarship Opportunities and Career path in Embassies’, on 11 th  September, 2019. The talk was delivered by Mr. Manjunath KS, the political and economic advisor for the UK deputy High Commission in Bengaluru. Dr. N Manoharan, from the Department of International Studies and History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), welcomed the speaker, wherein he briefly mentioned the roles that Mr. Manjunath performs at the High Commission, some of them being – advising the High Commissions about how UK can develop relations with India; supervising fellowships, and exploring potential areas of investments from UK firms in India and vice versa. The talk commenced with Mr. Manjunath, providing a glimpse into his career path, wherein he mentioned that prior to his current position of employment, he was pursuing journalism. During his time as a journalist, he had been in...

The Department of International Studies and History organised a Skype lecture by Professor Idesbald Goddeeris of KU Leuven on “Migration and Multiculturalism” for 1 MAIS class on 6 September 2019 between 11 AM to 12 PM at Council Room, Central Block, Christ (Deemed to be University). The speaker focussed his talk on European Identities and how migration has affected the continent. In a globalised set up, it is problematic to have a one-dimensional approach towards the population. With reference to Benedict Anderson’s “Imagined Communities”, it is necessary to understand that Europe is in a juxtaposition between collective and coercion identity. With the end of Cold War in 1989 with the fall of USSR, European Union allowed the skilled and enthusiastic people from Global South. This led to an issue of integration and inclusiveness where there was no reciprocity between migrants and citizens of a country. The effect of the migrant population can be seen by the influence over the style ...

On September 9 th 2019, the Department of International Studies and History organized a guest lecture on ‘Comparative Foreign Policies of Rising Powers’ by Professor Deepa M. Ollapally, Research Professor of International Affairs and the Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. Professor Ollapally began the lecture by quoting Paul Kennedy’s 1987 work ‘The Rise and Fall of Great Powers’. She compared the countries considered as rising powers then, as compared to now, such as India, which was not included in his works. She stated that the label of ‘rising power’ is determined by multiple factors of the foreign policy like economic responsibilities and relations, military (defence) networks, cultural influences and future resources. One of such examples which utilizes these indicators is the Lowy Institute’s Asia Power Index, which ranks India as 4 th , after China and Japan, in terms of e...

On the joyous occasion of Teachers’ day, the post graduate students from the Department of International Studies and History, organised a cultural programme to express their heartfelt gratitude and adulation for their professors, on 4th September, 2019. The evening was filled with several performances that displayed nothing less than immense exuberance and joy. All the faculty members of the Department of International Studies and History were presented with a token of the students’ appreciation. The cultural programme concluded with a jam session, where students and teachers grooved zestfully to famous Bollywood numbers.

The Department of International Studies and History, Christ (Deemed to be University), organized a guest lecture on ‘European Integration and International Economics’, on 27 th August, 2019. The lecture was delivered by Prof. Jan Lanser, a senior professor of International economics, at the Arnhem Business School, Han University. Students as well as staff from the Department of International Studies, were present for the event. The speaker commenced his lecture by acquainting the audience with certain key aspects of his very own country, Netherlands. He alluded to certain key elements that are peculiar to Netherlands. In the process of doing this, he talked about the Dutch language, culture, economy; and their position in the world - economically and geographically. Mr. Jan Lanser then advanced into the principle subject matter of the lecture by providing a brief overview of the European Union. At the very onset of the lecture, Mr. Lanser clarified that when he talks ab...