About the Owada Chair
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Hiroyuki Ukeda
Director, Center for International Exchange
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tokyo
The Netherlands is a familiar country to both those who have studied “world history” and those who have focused on Japanese history. The University of Tokyo has been actively involved in academic exchange with Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands, ever since concluding a university-wide academic exchange agreement in 2009. The Owada Chair Program was established in 2021 with the objective of promoting research and educational exchange between the University of Tokyo and Leiden University in the fields of humanities and social sciences. The chair commemorates the achievements of Prof. Hisashi Owada, who served as Ambassador to the UN and President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and covers a wide range of topics related to “the Interface between International Law and International Relations.” It aims to provide a forum for young students (graduate and undergraduate) and researchers, not only from our university but from all over Japan, to refine their research, theories and approaches through interactions with a leading European university, and then to contribute to the creation of a peaceful and open international order.
In December 2018, when Prof. Owada was retiring from the ICJ where he had served for 15 years, the president of Leiden University at the time proposed to establish a chair program in honor of his contributions to both the ICJ and Leiden University. Prof. Owada, who is an emeritus professor at Leiden University, had long been impressed by the students’ high motivation for learning, their excellent international outlook, and their ability to speak several languages. At the same time, he had also served as a part-time lecturer for many years at the University of Tokyo, where he was in contact with the younger generation of Japan. These experiences led Prof. Owada to feel a sense of alarm that, compared to leading staff members at the ICJ and his students at Leiden University, young Japanese people lack opportunities to acquire the ability to communicate on an international level, such as presenting their knowledge in English and responding constructively to criticisms.
Thus, Prof. Owada accepted the proposal from Leiden University with the intention of providing the younger generation with opportunities to challenge themselves. Leiden University has always had close ties with Asia, as can be seen from the fact that the university has a Japanese Studies Program, and it is hoped that the chair will also be a fruitful exchange for the Leiden University side through comparative studies between Europe and Asia, and the formation of collaborative networks.
On the University of Tokyo side, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/College of Arts and Sciences has undertaken the task of realizing Prof. Owada’s vision, and although the commencement of the chair program was delayed due to COVID-19, the first chair is expected to be held at Leiden University in May 2022.
The chair will be held over a course of 6 years until 2026, and a specific theme related to international law and international relations will be selected each year. Events of the chair will include keynote speeches by renowned experts, discussion seminars comprising of selected students from both universities, and seminars by researchers. It will be held on a rotating basis, with the first year at Leiden University, and the second year at the University of Tokyo. In addition to these events, we will work to gain wider social recognition and to balance out the activities throughout the year, through organizing online workshops for graduate students, holding online lectures, and announcing and reporting these and other activities via this website.
We will strive to enhance the contents of the Owada Chair Program Website so that it would interest many people, and we hope that you will continue to access it often for updated and useful information.
OBJECTIVES OF THE OWADA CHAIR PROGRAM
Under construction.
MESSAGES
Takumi Moriyama
Dean
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/College of Arts and Sciences
The University of Tokyo
The Owada Chair Program is a rotating chair program established by Leiden University and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/College of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo in commemoration of Professor Hisashi Owada, who has been closely associated with both institutions. Professor Owada is a world-renowned scholar in international law who has served as Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and President of the International Court of Justice, and whose experience and efforts as a diplomat have made him well versed in both the theory and practice of international relations and international politics. It is a great honor for us to implement this rotating chair named after him.
The constant progression of globalization in today’s world has resulted in time and space compression, causing conflicts with our established norms and local values. Such conflicts have also led to further conflicts between norms and values that are considered universal, and those that are deeply rooted in local communities. This global situation leads us to consider what our current challenges are, and how they could be resolved. We believe that the educational training of “intellectual citizens with a global perspective” as advocated in the “Charter of the University of Tokyo” will play an essential part in tackling these global issues.
“Intellectual citizens with a global perspective” do not passively accept their acquired norms and values as self-evident, but try to relativize them by thinking outside the box while also acknowledging the existence and being of different values and norms with flexible sensitivity. It is this ability that enables us to develop an empathetic understanding of others, and to be at ease in cooperating and fostering dialogue with them.
We are confident that the Owada Chair Program will make a significant contribution in nurturing “intellectual citizens with a global perspective”, which is an important educational goal for the University of Tokyo, and especially so at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences/College of Arts and Sciences.
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The Leiden University Executive Board is very pleased and honoured that, together with Tokyo University, we have initiated a rotating chair focussing on the interaction between international law and international relations through interdisciplinary approaches, named after the distinguished Professor Hisashi Owada. This achievement reflects the close ties between our universities, for which we are very grateful. Given professor Owada’s great services rendered to international relations and international law, and his connection with our university and contributions as a researcher, we are very honoured that he has been willing to attach his name to this chair.
The Owada Chair will be in place for six years, and will be held by leading scholars in the field, alternating between Leiden University and Tokyo University. The successive occupants of the chair will by their contribution stimulate discussion and debate on global issues, which are closely interwoven with the practice of international relations in a geopolitical perspective and also with international law.
Our intentions with the Owada Chair Programme are to stimulate discussion about geopolitics and international law in a changing world, to contribute to strengthening the ties between the Netherlands and Japan as well as to acknowledge the important contributions of professor Owada in this field and in this relationship.
The first holder of the Owada Chair will be Dominique Moïsi, professor at King’s College in London. Professor Dominique Moïsi studied at Sciences Po Paris and Harvard University, and obtained his PhD at the Sorbonne. He founded and led the Institut Français des Relations Internationales. He is currently a professor at King’s College in London, and has taught at various leading universities in Europe. Since 2016 Moïsi has also been an adviser for the Institut Montaigne, a renowned Paris thinktank.
If the pandemic permits, we hope very much to be able to welcome professors Moïsi and Owada this spring in Leiden for the first inaugural lecture of the Owada Chair on May 24, 2022.
Professor Annetje Ottow, President
Professor Hester Bijl, Rector Magnificus
Martijn Ridderbos, Vice-chairman
Leiden University
