Reimaging Motives and Emotions in International Relations
Monday 27 January 2025, 4.00pm-5.30pm
Room CBG.2.06
Join Dr Rohan Mukherjee in conversation with Professor Shiping Tang for an insightful exploration of the complex emotions underlying great power relations.
Emotions are running high within great power relations, including the US-China rivalry. Professor Tang builds on the theory of how the interaction of motive and emotion drives human actions. He looks at resentment derived from a sense of injustice, and argues that reason is not a motive but a process that mediates motives and emotions. He illustrates his new theory with key episodes of great power relations.
Professor Tang holds the position of Fudan Distinguished Professor and Dr Seaker Chan Chair Professor at Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He also holds a “Chang-Jiang/Cheung Kong Scholar” Distinguished Professorship from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the highest honour a social scientist can hold in China.
He has a very broad research interest and has published widely, covering international relations, comparative politics, institutional economics, methodology, philosophy of the social sciences, political theory and sociology. His books include The Institutional Foundation of Economic Development, (Princeton University Press, 2022) and On Social Evolution: Phenomenon and Paradigm (Routledge, 2020).
Open to IRD students and faculty only