The Visit of Mark Beeson to the Higher School of Economics

Professor of the University of Western Australia Mark Beeson delivered a series of open lectures at the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics in the framework of the HSE Visiting Scholar Visits Support Programme and with the participation of the International Laboratory of World Order Studies and New Regionalism.

Mark Beeson is a political scientist from Australia, Professor of the University of Western Australia specializing in the field of international politics in the Asia-Pacific, US-China relations, foreign policy of Australia, regional security.

On April 5, the professor gave an open lecture on the theme “The Dilemma of the Transition of Power in American-Chinese Relations”. The lecture covered various aspects of the current confrontation between the United States and China, which is one of the main challenges to international stability in the post-bipolar era. The professor examined this issue through the prism of classical and modern concepts of the power transition, and also presented his predictions for the US-China relations in the 21st century.

On April 10, Professor Beeson in the framework of XIX April HSE International Academic Conference took part in the round table "Russia in the Asia-Pacific Region: a new policy in the new situation?".

The other participants of the round table were the Dean of the Faculty of World Economy and World Politics, HSE Sergey Karaganov, Head of the Department of International Relations, HSE, Head of the International Laboratory of World Order and New Regionalism Studies Alexander Lukin and Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexey Kuznetsov. The moderator of the round table was Professor Maxim Bratersky.

The experts discussed in detail the main problems and development trends of the Asia-Pacific region, as well as potential challenges for Russia in connection with the transformation of the economic and geopolitical landscape of the region.

Professor Beeson paid special attention to Australia’s foreign policy and interests in the region, as well as to the country's prospects in the context of two competing concepts - “Greater Eurasia” and “Indo-Pacific Region”. At the end of his speech, the professor said that in his opinion, Australia’s promising foreign policy strategy could be its participation as one of the key actors of the international climate regime, despite the marginality of this discourse.

On April 11, an open lecture by Mark Beeson on the topic «China as a structural challenge to the APAC» took place.

The lecturer presented his expert opinion on the issue of the growing regional and macro-regional influence of China. The revival of China as the main regional force not only contributes to the transformation of the APAC's relations with China, but also the internal relations of the Asia-Pacific countries themselves. Their fears are expressed in the ever-increasing costs of weapons programs and the training of armed forces, which in turn leads to the unwinding of the “spiral of uncertainty” in regional relations.

He also drew attention to th the problem of competition for hegemony in the region between China and the United States, the nature of which, according to Professor Beeson, is more complex than that proposed by influential theoretical approaches. The professor believes that as China continues to strengthen its positions in the increasingly integrated regional economy, it seems likely that both the US hegemonic influence on the Asia-Pacific region will decrease, as well the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.