The film, Wolf Warrior 2, is also available to watch in the library’s viewing room or check out for your own DVD player. It presents a thrilling view of international development (sometimes called international aid) and peacekeeping. My mind is still thinking about different perspectives on foreign policies and nationalism. Some films for comparison include Operation Red Sea or We Come As Friends. The latter may be less thrilling, but it is honest to local viewpoints, and a list of resources from We Come as Friends Film Friday in May 2018 is available.
In a university setting, debating comparative politics or US-China relations happens in journal articles. An excellent example of one conversation over the years is published in International Security.
In 2013, Iain Johnston wrote an article on Chinese “assertiveness” or its absence. The following year, two academics, Dingding Chen and Xiaoyu Po, published their response, which included Johnston’s short reply to their questions. Then in 2017, Johnston published another article with new evidence. Scholarly communications may not be as fast-paced as a ping-pong match, but reading the evolution of a debate can be very informative. The authors and articles cited by these authors become a goldmine for students wondering where to efficiently begin searching.
Another hot topic of research has been defining the official foreign policy of the Belt Road Initiative (formerly One Belt, One Road and sometimes called Silk Road Initiative). Given the lack of formal documents or consistent names, researchers use methods and theories to illuminate what can be determined. Financial Times has arranged an interactive graphic explaining the geography, history, and elements. Another good place to start is the library-subscribed database, Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) where “one belt one road” yields 5 working papers or articles full of footnotes to reputable research. PAIS International is the other leading database of research in international relations. A search there for “one belt one road” finds less than 100 options, which you could refine for peer review or being in scholarly journals (left menu). You may compare the publication titles (another list in the left menu) with top journals in international relations in Journal Citation Reports, though many more factors affect the research value of an article than its impact factor.
If all this seems a bit daunting, visit with a librarian! We are in NYU-Shanghai’s official WeChat (Library) or at the desk Monday – Thursday noon to 2 pm.