INTRODUCTION

Fudan International Summer School of SIRPA 2024

Fudan University's Graduate School began launching and funding the 'Graduate International Summer School' program in 2023. The School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, as one of the first departments to undertake this, hosted an international summer school for graduate students covering interdisciplinary topics in political science, public administration, international relations, national security studies, and regional studies. The theme of this summer school project is 'Major Changes and the New Order: China and the World,' with a planned duration of ten years. The focus for the year 2024 will be: Global Indebtedness and the Future of Human Development

1. About This Year’s Theme

In today's discussions about the debt issue, there is seldom theoretical thinking initiated from the perspective of the Global South. For developed countries that are in a privileged position within the global inequality order, the "underdeveloped" part of the existing order is seen as a "crisis" that needs to be managed and disciplined. This "crisis" is systemic and may pose a challenge to the existing world order dominated by the West. Under this perception, developing countries need to adopt the neoliberal order prescribed by developed countries not only economically but also politically by further promoting institutional reforms. Under this understanding, the debt crisis is seen as a threat to the safety and returns of creditor funds, that is, the risk of default. Under this understanding, debt governance does not choose to govern the "source" of debt, nor does it deal with the impact of debt investment on the economic development of the debtor.

The conventional neoliberal order, centered on markets/consumption, bases its understanding of debt governance on ignoring that "national capability" is a key variable of regulatory factors. This view of debt governance, in addition to locking developing countries deeply into a dependent position within the Western global economic order, has an inverted nature that more easily drags global economic development into a vicious cycle of crisis. To avoid repeatedly entering such a "crisis" state in the global order, we need not only a comprehensive mechanism to adequately address the sovereign debt crisis but also a paradigm shift that rethinks why crises occur. This new paradigm requires us to genuinely start from the urgent developmental needs of the Global South, centering on production rather than consumption, to assess the value of various types of debt to developing countries.

The development of China in the era of great changes requires us to reflect on the many basic assumptions about politics, economics, and even civilization that have grown from the historical process of Western capitalist modernization at the fundamental order level, and to further explore the future path of human modernization. In the past few decades, neoliberal globalization based on global capitalist debt has bound many countries around the world in a perilous chain of debt. This development model, centered on absolute market centrism, is secured by the military, legal, and cultural hegemony of a superpower on a global scale.

The promotion of neoliberal political economy has led to increasing government debt problems in many countries, and government incapacity caused by debt issues is becoming a global problem. The debt issue, especially the government debt problem, is an increasingly prominent global crisis. To address this global debt crisis, we need to step out of the disciplinary frameworks of international economics, finance, development studies, and international governance, and in a long-term, holistic, and dialectical relationship, rethink the sources, reasons, and impacts of this "comprehensive debt" crisis. More importantly, based on this reflection, envision a new vision of the global development order.

Based on this, this year's summer school takes "comprehensive debt" as the theme, discussing not only financial and development debt in the general sense but also addressing the political, cultural, moral, and even ecological issues brought by the development model of capitalist modernization and globalization.

Around the theme of "comprehensive debt," the summer school has gathered leading scholars from China and abroad on this issue and has paid particular attention to the voices of scholars from the "Global South," attempting to understand the characteristics of Chinese foreign aid and lending. It also hopes to expand the understanding of the "debt" issue from a political-economic perspective, discussing the pressures brought by hegemonic capitalism's globalized order on the environment and humanities, and its impact on global, especially Global South countries in terms of social development pressures, environmental issues, and poverty issues.

Duration: July 8, 2024 - July 28, 2024

   Location: School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

   Teaching Format: Classroom lectures, group discussions, reading groups, field trips.

   Teaching Language: Chinese, English

   Number of Students: 120

2. Teaching Staff and Topics

The scholars teaching in the summer school include Huang Ping, Yves Sintomer, Barry Sautman, Yan Hairong, Gao Yuning, Zheng Yu, Zhang Ping, among others. The topics covered in the lectures include: debt governance issues in Europe, America, Africa, and China.

3. Registration and Requirements

a. Requirements

This course is open to current master's students, doctoral students, and young faculty from Fudan University and other Chinese and international universities.

b. Online Application

Students who wish to enroll in the course should apply by June 24, 2024, at 24:00, using Fudan University's general application platform at：

http://register.fudan.edu.cn/ (Project name: Global Indebtedness and the Future of Human Development).

c. Admission and Fees

Admission will be based on a comprehensive evaluation of the application materials submitted. Once applicants receive their admission notice, they must complete the online course registration by July 4th. Details about the registration process will be communicated via email. Failure to register by the deadline will be considered a forfeiture of admission.

There are no tuition fees for this summer session. Participants are responsible for their own transportation costs to and from Shanghai, as well as accommodation and meal expenses while in Shanghai.

d. Scholarship

This program will offer a number of scholarships. Recipients will be selected based on their academic performance during the program, through a comprehensive evaluation, and the list of scholarship winners will be announced at the program's closing ceremony.

4. Contact

Dr. LI Haimo

Email: fdusummer@163.com

2024年复旦国务学院国际暑期学校简介

从斯里兰卡等发展中国家到美国等发达国家，越来越多国家的政府深陷债务危机，以及资本主义发展模式带来的全面危机。政府失能直接影响到国内治理以及国家参与全球治理的能力。全面债务问题及其解决成为当今世界重要的国内和国际公共政策议题。

在今天对债务问题的讨论中，很少有从全球南方视角出发进行的理论思考。对于居于全球不平等秩序优势地位的发达国家而言，现有秩序中的“不发达”部分，是需要被治理与规训的“危机”。这种“危机”是系统性的，并且可能会对西方主导的世界现有秩序形成挑战。在这种认识下，发展中国家不但在经济上需要接纳发达国家所制定的新自由主义秩序，在政治上也需要进一步推动制度改革。在这种认识下，债务危机被视为一种对债权方资金安全与收益的威胁，即违约风险。在这种认识下，债务治理并不选择治理债务的“源头”，也不会处理债务投资领域对债务方经济发展的影响。

传统新自由主义秩序观以市场/消费为中心，在此基础上对债务治理的认识，忽视了“国家能力”是调节因素的关键变量。这种债务治理观，除了会将发展中国家深度锁定在西方全球经济秩序的依附地位之外，其本末倒置的属性，更容易将全球的经济发展拖入危机循环的怪圈。为了将避免全球秩序反复走入这种“危机”状态，我们既需要一种充分应对主权债务危机的综合机制，更需要一个重新思考为什么会出现危机的范式转型。这种新的范式，需要我们真正从全球南方迫切希望发展国家能力的现实需求出发，以生产而非消费为中心，判断不同类型债务对发展中国家的价值。

大变局时代的中国发展，需要我们在根本秩序层面上，对过去从西方资本主义现代化历史进程中生长起来的政治、经济、乃至文明层面上的诸多基本假设进行反思，并在此基础上进一步探索人类现代化发展的未来道路。在过去的几十年中，以资本主义全球债务为基础而形成的新自由主义全球化增长，将全球许多国家都绑定在一个危机重重的债务链条上。这种发展模式以绝对的市场中心主义为核心，以超级大国在全球范围内的军事、法律、文化霸权为保障。

新自由主义政治经济学的推广带来越来越多国家的政府债务问题，由于债务问题造成的政府失能正在成为一个世界性问题，债务问题特别是政府债务问题是一个日益凸显的全球性危机。而应对这种全球性的债务危机，需要我们跳出国际经济、金融、发展研究、国际治理的学科框架，在一个长时段、整体性、辩证的关系中，重新思考这种“全面债务”危机的来源、原因，以及影响。更重要的是，在此反思的基础上，构想一个全球发展秩序的新图景。

在此基础上，本年度的暑期班以“全面债务”为主题词，除了讨论一般意义上的金融、发展债务之外，也希望处理随着资本主义现代化、全球化的发展，这种发展模式给全球带来的政治、文化、道德、乃至生态问题。

围绕“全面债务”主题，暑期班集合了中外在这个问题上的领军学者，并特别注重来自“全球南方”学者的声音，尝试理解中国对外援助和借贷的特点。同时希望扩展对“债务”问题的理解，从政治经济角度，讨论霸权主义带来的资本主义全球化秩序对环境、人文造成的压力，及其对全球，特别是全球南方国家造成的相关社会发展压力、环境问题、以及贫困问题等。