Geopolitics, Resources, and Power Projection
November 11-12 2022
In our 2022 conference, we will discuss how geopolitics, geography, and resources have been utilized in state expansion and projection of power. Geopolitics is the framework in which states struggle over control of geographical entities with international and global dimension, as well as the use of these entities for their own political advantage. China has projected its power and extracted resources in Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa. Russia has expanded its borders to annex Crimea and is currently at war with Ukraine. Multiple countries have staked claims to territories in the Arctic – where oil, gas, and mineral reserves are abundant. These are just a few examples of how nations use geographic resources and entities to their advantage to expand their power and territory. Come to this year’s CMRC to unpack how geopolitics and resources play a key role in today’s global politics.
Friday, November 11th
2:30 PM
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DR. YONG DENG
Dr. Yong Deng is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 1995 (dissertation committee chair, Prof. Allen S. Whiting), he taught at Benedictine University in Illinois before moving to the United States Naval Academy in 1999 where has since been an assistant, associate, and full professor. He was recently Visiting Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong (2019); Senior Visiting Fellow at Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2017); and Visiting Fellow at the Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway (2012).
He twice received Honorable Mention of Class of 1951 Civilian Faculty Research Excellence Award from the U.S. Naval Academy, respectively in 2008 and 2011. Dr. Deng has published five books, Promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation: Perspectives from East Asia(1997), In the Eyes of the Dragon: China Views the World (co-editor, 1999), China Rising: Power and Motivation in Chinese Foreign Policy (co-editor, 2005), China’s Struggle for Status: The Realignment of International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and China’s Strategic Opportunity: Change and Revisionism in Chinese Foreign Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). Some of his other scholarly works have appeared in academic journals, such as Political Science Quarterly, China Quarterly, Pacific Affairs, Journal of Contemporary China, Washington Quarterly, and Journal of Strategic Studies, as well as edited volumes published by Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield, Palgrave MacMillan, Stanford University Press, and MIT Press.
3:30 PM
RESOURCE EXTRACTION AND CHINA’S POWER PROJECTION
This panel will discuss how China has used geopolitics and natural resources for projection of power across the globe. China has growing its economic ties and influence throughout the world through the Belt and Road Initiative and other forms of investment. China wants access to natural resources like oil and gas, as well as iron, copper, and zinc. To guarantee this supply, Beijing has heavily invested in countries such as Sudan, Angola, and Nigeria. China has also sought resources in power in Southeast Asia and in the South China Sea. In the South China Sea, Beijing has begun to employ “gray zone tactics” to increase its influence and intimidate its neighbors. This panel will dive into how resource extraction in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and other parts of the world has been used as a tool of Beijing to increase its influence. The panel will mostly focus on the South China Sea and Southeast Asia. This panel will also look into what the United States and allies can do to counter these developments.
Saturday, November 12th
10:00 AM
GEOPOLITICAL COMPETITION IN THE ARCTIC
This panel will focus on the strategic importance of the Arctic and how, with climate change, increased accessibility to natural resources is attracting global superpowers near and far. Oil, gas, coal, rare-earth metals, and fisheries are spread all across the Arctic, and there is a considerable capacity for economic expansion in the region. Access to strategic positions, trade routes, and other claims has expanded into a more overt competition, as we see notably with the U.S., China, and Russia.
1:30 PM
VIOLENCE IN STATE EXPANSION IN UKRAINE
This panel will discuss how has terror and violence been used against people to expand state power in a case study of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We will also explore how Russia has weaponized energy for leverage along with resources such as wheat in Ukraine. What are Putin’s next steps in this war?
Speakers
Yong Deng – USNA
Dr. Yong Deng is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 1995 (dissertation committee chair, Prof. Allen S. Whiting), he taught at Benedictine University in Illinois before moving to the United States Naval Academy in 1999 where has since been an assistant, associate, and full professor. He was recently Visiting Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong (2019); Senior Visiting Fellow at Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (2017); and Visiting Fellow at the Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway (2012).He twice received Honorable Mention of Class of 1951 Civilian Faculty Research Excellence Award from the U.S. Naval Academy, respectively in 2008 and 2011. Dr. Deng has published five books, Promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation: Perspectives from East Asia(1997), In the Eyes of the Dragon: China Views the World (co-editor, 1999), China Rising: Power and Motivation in Chinese Foreign Policy (co-editor, 2005), China’s Struggle for Status: The Realignment of International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and China’s Strategic Opportunity: Change and Revisionism in Chinese Foreign Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022). Some of his other scholarly works have appeared in academic journals, such as Political Science Quarterly, China Quarterly, Pacific Affairs, Journal of Contemporary China, Washington Quarterly, and Journal of Strategic Studies, as well as edited volumes published by Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield, Palgrave MacMillan, Stanford University Press, and MIT Press.
Lieutenant Justin Chock is a senior instructor in the Political Science Department at the U.S. Naval Academy teaching courses on American Politics and International Relations. His research focuses on Asia-Pacific security with particular attention to the U.S.-Japan Alliance and Chinese foreign policy.Prior to the Naval Academy, Justin served as the Chief Military Liaison for the U.S. Forces, Japan J2 Directorate for Intelligence where he led intelligence-related engagements, cooperation, analysis, plans and exercises with the Japan Ministry of Defense and Japan Self-Defense Forces. He also served as the Gunnery and Ordnance Officer onboard USS CHUNG-HOON (DDG 93) and additionally conducted internships with the East-West Center in Washington, Department of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and Chief of Naval Operations International Engagements Branch.
Matt Geraci is an assistant director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, where he helps research and devise allied solutions to the global challenges posed by China’s rise, leveraging and amplifying the Atlantic Council’s work on China across its programs and centers.Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Geraci was a research associate and program officer with the Institute for China-America studies, where he managed the Maritime Affairs Program and Blue Carbon and Climate Change Program, incorporating ArcGIS tools in his research on maritime studies, resources and the environment, US-China international development, and US-China trade and economic issues.
Dexter Tiff Roberts is a writer and speaker on China who serves as a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, and teaches politics at the University of Montana. Previously he was China bureau chief at Bloomberg Businessweek based in Beijing for more than two decades. He has a bachelor’s in political science from Stanford University, a master of international affairs from Columbia University, and studied Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University. Roberts’ first book, The Myth of Chinese Capitalism, was an Economist “best book of the year” for 2020. He publishes a weekly newsletter Trade War on Chinese business and politics. Roberts is a regular commentator for media including the Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Politico, Bloomberg, the BBC, CNN, and Fox News. In 2020, he provided testimony to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s hearing on U.S.-China Relations.
Marisol Maddox is a Senior Arctic Analyst at the Polar Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. Her research considers the nexus of the Arctic, climate change, security, and geopolitics. She is particularly interested in how the growing presence of actorless threats– such as climate change and biodiversity loss– challenges strategic thinking and first-order assumptions about security. Ms. Maddox is a non-resident research fellow at the Center for Climate & Security, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Newport Arctic Scholars Initiative at the U.S. Naval War College.
Dr. HONG Nong holds a PhD of interdisciplinary study of international law and international relations from the University of Alberta, Canada and held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the University’s China Institute. She was ITLOS-Nippon Fellow for International Dispute Settlement and Visiting Fellow at Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security, the Center of Oceans Law and Policy, University of Virginia, and at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She is concurrently a research fellow with China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada, and the National Institute for South China Sea Studies. She is also a China Forum expert. Her research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examining international relations and international law, with focus on International Relations and Comparative Politics in general; ocean governance in East Asia and the Arctic; law of the sea; international security, particularly non-traditional security; and international dispute settlement and conflict resolution. Her selected publications include China’s Role in the Arctic: Observing and Being Observed (London and New York: Routeldge, 2020), UNCLOS and Ocean Dispute Settlement: Law and Politics in the South China Sea (Routledge, 2012).
Rockford “Rocky” Weitz is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Maritime Studies Program at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. He teaches courses in Global Maritime Affairs and Maritime Security. His Tisch Faculty Fellow project – “Engaging Arctic Indigenous Stakeholders” – focuses on preparing an executive education curriculum for a possible Fletcher School leadership program that would target Arctic indigenous youth interested in learning about Arctic geopolitics, climate policy, sustainable development, and diplomacy. The Arctic region is being impacted by climate change more than any other part of the world. At the May 2021 Arctic Council Ministerial, new climate science was published showing that the Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet. This project helps build further cross-school collaboration across the University on exploring more ways how the Fletcher School and other parts of Tufts University can support the next generation of young climate leaders, especially those from Arctic indigenous backgrounds, as policy makers start to tackle global climate change post-pandemic.
Arik Burakovsky is Assistant Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School. His research interests include the role of the media in international politics, public and elite opinion, soft power, public diplomacy, and U.S.-Russia relations. Before completing his M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School, Arik interned in the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy Moscow and studied the Polish language and culture as a Boren Fellow at the University of Warsaw in Poland. He also served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Omsk, Russia and twice as Resident Director of the ROTC Project GO intensive summer Russian language program in Narva, Estonia. His work has been published by The Conversation, Time, The National Interest, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and elsewhere. Arik received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations at the University of California, San Diego.
Robert Person is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the United States Military Academy and director of West Point’s curriculum in International Affairs. He teaches courses on Russian and post-Soviet politics, international political economy, democratic and authoritarian regimes, and international relations. His research on Russian politics and foreign policy has been published in a variety of academic and popular media, including the Journal of Democracy, Post-Soviet Affairs, Problems of Post-Communism, the Washington Post, The National Interest, the Moscow Times, and elsewhere. His commentary on current events in Russia and Ukraine has appeared in the New York Times, U.S. News, NPR, BBC, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, El País, and other international media outlets. Dr. Person regularly consults as a Russia subject matter expert for the Army, Department of Defense, and other U.S. Government agencies. He is a faculty affiliate at West Point’s Modern War Institute and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a PhD in political science from Yale University and an MA in Russian and East European Studies from Stanford University. His current book project, “Russia’s Grand Strategy in the 21st Century” is forthcoming from the Brookings Press.