Sophia Magazine vol.8 / WINTER 2018

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tional relations, the study is investigating possible ways to maintain or restore world order, and the stance that Japan should take on this. This venture is the flagship for the re-naissance of the SIIR. With respect to research on Japan-US relations, the in-stitute is focused on building its network by, for example, stepping up its collaboration with Georgetown University. Sophia also participates in the US-Japan Research Institute, which has nine sponsoring universities in Japan with SIIR being the representative institute for Sophia.Anno comments, “I would also like to lead a global re-search project to revisit the contribution of religion to the international order; something which tends to be underes-timated.” Through the SIIR, the quest for making peace by thinking beyond the traditional framework of international relations has begun anew.dignity for all, and freedom to live life as each person sees fit.” Considering world peace from the standpoint of the citizen and individual, Inaba says, “The biggest obstacles to peace are discrimination against minorities and the overlapping issue of the borders inside our minds. Overcoming these is actually going to require a hard grind at the level of citizen, where we work shoulder to shoulder with individuals as the primary agents.”Many of the IGC’s activities, consequently, are not proj-ects that can be completed by researchers alone: rather, they tend to be collaborative efforts with students and NGOs, and other grassroots activities. Most of its affiliated researchers have deep links with active civic groups both in Japan and across the globe.Further, in order to effectively communicate research re-sults to citizens, artistic works such as film and plays take the place of academic means such as theses. “A major feature of the institute is the way it makes use of communication tools Associate Professor Anno assumes an orthodox definition of world peace, as “the absence of military conflict among nations and of conflict within nations.” This is certainly no more than “negative peace,” and is not the ultimate goal. For instance, a professed objective of the 2003 invasion of Iraq was the overthrow of the Hussein regime and the libera-tion of the Iraqi people: yet the offensive resulted in an esti-mated 100,000 deaths and a state of civil war in the country. From the perspective of the Iraqis who went “out of the fry-ing pan and into the fire,” establishing and maintaining a conflict-free situation and bringing about “negative peace” is paramount. Thus, the SIIR’s state-based perspective and approach to international relations will continue to form the basis of peacemaking. The former Institute of International Relations was estab-lished at Sophia in 1969. Sadako Ogata, who worked globally for peace including serving as the eighth United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, was deeply involved at Sophia both as a director of the Institute and as a professor. After the institute was disbanded in 2003, having achieved an excel-lent reputation as a research facility representing Sophia, the 2015 founding of the SIIR gave it a new start and mission, in the context of the unforeseen acceleration of globalization and rapid changes to the balance of power among nations.In April, the SIIR launched an important new project on the theme of “Japan and the Crisis of the Liberal Interna-tional Order.” Taking a realistic new perspective on interna-The IGC emerged out of a reorganization of Sophia’s Insti-tute for the Study of Social Justice in 2009. Professor Inaba, while not under any illusion that the IGC alone will be able to bring about world peace, expresses her vision of this ideal thus: “The achievement of societies worldwide providing Exploring the Shape of an EvolvingWorld Order Based on the Nation StateSophia Institute of International Relations (SIIR) TADASHI ANNO(Associate Professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts)The Key to Peace as Seen by CitizensInstitute of Global Concern (IGC)NANAKO INABA(Professor, Faculty of Global Studies)8Approach