European Studies Research Institutes

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grows within China, outside observers can benefit from becoming familiar with some of the ‘big names’ in this community.

5.2.2 European Studies Research Institutes

China has several institutes dedicated to European Studies. The most important few can be identified by way of the sources of influence models introduced in Chapter Four. In terms of official and semi-official units, the three most important are the Institute of European Studies (欧洲研究所, Ouzhou yanjiu suo) at CICIR (China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations); the Institute of European Studies (IES, 欧洲研 究所, Ouzhou yanjiu suo) belonging to CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences); and the European Research Section (欧洲研究部, Ouzhou yanjiu bu) at CIIS (Contemporary Institute of International Studies).

CICIR’s influence derives from its position. The institute, China’s oldest foreign affairs research institute, is bankrolled by the Ministry of State Security but administratively located directly under the Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Office (Shambaugh 2002; Leonard 2008) CICIR, widely considered a civil intelligence organ, is the only research institute known to submit a daily brief to the central authorities.

(Glaser and Saunders, 2002) The institute has access to classified Party, government, and military materials, and has “several direct channels to all the members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo” (Glaser and Saunders, 2002: p. 599), in particular through the institute’s right to submit papers directly to senior leaders. In addition, CICIR is large, with nearly 400 researchers, and well-funded. (Shambaugh, 2002) The Institute of European Studies is one of seven regional affairs institutes. (CICIR website)

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Although CICIR has excellent positional influence, it could also be argued that the research is skewed towards practical and relevant ‘intelligence’ as opposed to theoretical or general topics. This may be useful for rapid decision making but perhaps adds relatively little to the academic discipline of European Studies.

CASS is a ‘research conglomerate,’ made up of thirty eight independent institutes, under the guidance of the Foreign Affairs Office. (CASS website) The Institute of European Studies (IES) is one of these, and is considered to be the most comprehensive in its research into European affairs. (Dai, 2008) It covers politics, economics, society and culture, and international relations of Europe. (Shambaugh, 2002) Quite on the contrary to CICIR, as Shambaugh states: “policy relevance and policy influence is not their primary function… CASS researchers consider themselves and their research to be scholarly.” (p. 595) CASS is not permitted to routinely issue papers to the Party leadership, but instead draws upon its huge reputation and size, as well as the personal and expert sources of influence available to its individual scholars. (Glaser and Saunders, 2002) One reason why the CASS IES is particularly influential is because the Chinese Association for European Studies (CAES, 中国欧洲学会, Zhongguo Ouzhou xuehui) is based there. (CAES website) CAES is the national professional association for European Studies scholars, made up of research committees concerned with different areas of expertise within the field, including the history of integration, law, economics and politics of the EU. (Dai, 2008) The association president is always the director of IES. In addition to this, CASS IES edits the most important European Studies journals (see section 5.2.4). As such, IES wields huge influence at the peer level in the academic field of European Studies.

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The final one of the three research institutes with greater influence in the European Studies field is the European Research Section at CIIS. CIIS is the research arm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as such has direct positional influence over the decisions made by MoFA. (Lu, 1997) However, as discussed in Chapter Two, MoFA is but one of the many governmental organs which create policy. Nevertheless, CIIS’s positional influence is notable, and as MoFA has grown in importance in policy making, so has the reputation of CIIS. (Shambaugh, 2002) In addition, CIIS is tasked with Track II diplomacy on behalf of MoFA, gifting scholars with outside links and experience abroad.

(CIIS website) CIIS itself claims to be “focused primarily on medium and long-term issues of strategic importance.” (Shambaugh, 2002: 584) This is in contrast to CASS’s theoretical bent, and CICIR’s strong tendency towards short-term practical intelligence.

In addition to these three institutes, there are also many university departments (classified as civilian research institutes) with European Studies departments. Of these, Renmin University (人民大学, renmin daxue) and the China Foreign Affairs University (外交学院, waijiao xueyuan) in Beijing, as well as Fudan University (复旦大学, fudan daxue) in Shanghai, are considered some of the more reputable departments as a result of the universities’ well-established histories and the reputation of the many renowned scholars found working there. (Dai, 2008)

Renmin University has a Centre for European Studies (CESRUC, 欧洲问题研究中 心, Ouzhou wenti yanjiu zhongxin) which is considered the Ministry of Education’s epicentre of European Studies, and labelled a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence³for the first time in 2005. (Dai, 2008) The China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) is actually

3 According to the European Union’s official website, a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence is an institute

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under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; if CIIS is the research arm of MoFA, then the China Foreign Affairs University is the educational arm.

As such, unlike other civilian institutes, this university can also claim positional influence. CFAU has a well-reputed European Studies Centre (欧洲研究中心, Ouzhou yanjiu zhongxin). Finally, Fudan University’s Centre for European Studies (复旦大学欧 洲研究中心, Fudan daxue Ouzhou yanjiu zhongxin) was the first to be established nationwide. When international studies first took root in China, Fudan University was designated the role of researching the capitalist world, which came to include the European Community. Fudan’s Centre for European Studies has maintained its reputation for excellence in studies related to the European Union, granted Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence status in 2004. (Dai, 2008) In addition to this, the Chinese Society for European Union Studies (CSEUS, 中国欧盟研究会, Zhongguo Oumeng yanjiu hui) – similar to CAES in its role as an umbrella academic association, but with a focus specifically on EU integration – has been based in Fudan University, Shanghai, since 1984. CSEUS organises biennial conferences and retains membership to the global ECSA (European Community Studies Association) on behalf of Chinese European Studies scholars, generating more links with expert peers from around the world. (CSEUS website)

There are many other dedicated university departments for European Studies around the country, including at Wuhan, Beijing, Nankai, and Shandong Universities amongst others. Lacking the positional influence of official and semi-official research institutes, these university departments must rely on other sources of influence in order to have their voice heard. This in particular includes influence amongst peers, as well as

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freedom to engage in academic conferences and associations such as CSEUS, and the all-important personal networking –guanxi.