Visit of ANU’s Christian Reus-Smit

This week, PRIO and Bjørknes had a visit from Chris Reus-Smit, who is a Professor of International Politics and Head of the Department of International Relations at the Australian National University, our partner for one of the collaborative MA programs. Chris gave an eminent lecture on Individual Rights and the Making of the International System at PRIO yesterday.

There, he outlined how individual rights and state formation are not inherently contradictory, as is often assumed, but rather mutually constitutive of each other. Chis exemplified this with what he called five major waves – turning points in the form of the collapse of major empires – including Westphalia, the independence of Latin America and the end of World War II. A compelling presentation was followed by an interesting round of questions from a mixed PRIO/Bjørknes audience. His argument informs a book in the making, but parts of it has been published in the form of articles. More on Chris’ theoretical thoughts here.

The main purpose of the visit, of course was do discuss the joint MA program. The program, in its sixth year, is going very well, student numbers are up to 24 this year, and the teaching by PRIO staff is highly valued, by Bjørknes, ANU faculty and the students.