IPExplore by International Affairs

IPE xplore 1

The International Politics and Economics Magazine Middlebury College

First Issue

Spring 2008

IPExplore

4 The Magic Goes On 6 An Education of a Lifetime IP&E and Study Abroad

Change the Change?

Opinion

Reﬂections on Middlebury’s IP&E Program: A Senior's Perspective

Developing? No, This Country’s Chilling. Editor-in-Chief: Graphic/Layout Designer: Proof Readers: Contributors: Photography: Cover, Pgs. 16-17 Pgs. 4-5 Pg. 5 Pgs. 6-7 Pgs. 12-15 Pgs. 20-21

Thierry Warin Carolann Davis Martha Baldwin, Carolann Davis, and Charlotte Tate Thierry Warin, Olivier Halley, Jeffrey Cason, Jeremy Bittlingmaier Martin, Ryan Kellett, Eric Lonstein, and Eric Harvey Ryan Kellett Patrick Baldwin Carolann Davis Olivier Halley Jeremy Bittlingmaier Martin Eric Harvey

The Mag

gic Goes On

by Thierry Warin Director International Politics and Economics Associate Professor of Economics

“

International Politics and Economics Program? Can you tell me more about the Program?” In these days of course registration and campus previews, I have heard these questions a thousand times. To answer, I put on a bit of a show. I lean back in my chair, look at the sky in search of inspiration from the depth of the universe, and recite my in fact well-memorized story about the Program as if it were totally improvised. Why not? We professors are always on stage. And then the magic goes on. This should not come as a surprise: IP&E is a smooth and effective bridge between political science and economics–two departments so complementary in their international approaches that IP&E seems like a natural venue for becoming an expert in international affairs. Moreover, when one considers the whole picture, IP&E thrives on some of the best qualities that Middlebury College has to offer: our strength in languages and our international dimension with our schools abroad. This union had to ﬁnd a home, and that’s why this magazine was created. Its intent is to become the very visible and–I admit shamelessly–luxurious way to reinforce the partnership between the political science and economics departments, and also to strengthen the bonds between IP&E majors–both current and alumni. Before you is the very ﬁrst issue of IPExplore. I wanted it to be the voice of IP&E students on campus and abroad: from Argentina to China. And not only is IPExplore “international,” it is “green,” totally digital. I hope you will like it, and that you’ll be one of our next contributors! This magazine is yours! ■

A n E ducation 6

o f a Lifetime 7

by Olivier Halley ’91

1987 WHEN I STARTED Middlebury as an incoming international student from France, I was faced with the overwhelming decisions of choosing my fall semester classes. What to choose, what to do? It was stimulating and scary at the same time. In Europe, or at least in France, you do not choose your curriculum, it’s assigned, or designed “for you,” by the institution where you study, with very little choices for customization. The choices offered by Middlebury’s curriculum were therefore both fascinating and intimidating. I was there, in America, far away from my known cultural references and years away from a French “all taken care of ” academic education. I was under the impression that this very day in September would deﬁne the direction my life would take, not imagining the twists and turns that laid ahead. ACK IN

8 I had little idea about how to “build a curriculum.” What I knew was I wanted to work in a corporation in France, like my Dad. Doing what, I did not know, but I guessed that I would ﬁgure that out along the way. In France of the pre-internet era, if you wanted to work in business, you had to study mathematics and/or economics. So I did just that, two classes of each. The criterion of choice was that they couldn’t overlap in the schedule. I quickly found the candidates’ courses and signed up for them. I entered freshman year as a sophomore, thanks to a year of extra credits that my French Baccalauréat got me. That eliminated the elective requirements for me that year except for physical education. At that point, the choices seemed simple and comforting enough.

when the idea of a new major in the crafting, not yet called IP&E, was brought to my attention.

Even if the workload was, to say the least, intense, I repeated the format in spring. By the time of spring term of that freshman year, I had realized that I had covered almost 80% of the requirements for my major and that by the following Christmas I’d have to think about double majoring because I’d run out of classes to take and I did not feel starting a thesis yet. That’s

The IP&E major allowed me to have a series of experiences that I do not think I would have had if I had continued with statistics courses or detailed studies of the Keynesian multiplicator theories of macroeconomics. What started as an escape route from a depleting inventory of classes turned out to be a mind opener to more life models, more variety of

In the fall of my sophomore year, the IP&E was formally launched and I jumped on it, thrilled to have an alternative that not only capitalized on my curriculum but also opened a wide array of alternatives. The political science classes were a nice novelty and the international focus was a natural for me, an international student. I loved the new direction my Middlebury experience was taking. I started Spanish classes, I got to go study abroad in 1989 just when the Berlin wall fell and the once-closed eastern countries opened.

9 economic and political systems, to more alternatives and more choices. After graduation from Middlebury, I worked for two years in Chicago as a sales representative for a French company. After that I relocated with them to Hong Kong in brand management just before the turn over of Hong Kong to China. I then stayed in the same industry of fast moving consumer goods but changed companies to work in southern Spain for three years and later Argentina where I became country manager of a startup discount retail chain. I now live in Belgium with my wife and kids, a country with three ofﬁcial languages and diverging cultures while hosting the capital of the ever increasing European Union. There is no doubt in my mind that my Middlebury and IP&E experiences opened my eyes and stimulated my curiosity to seek new challenges and test myself by discovering new horizons. The wealth of experiences that I, and my family, have had in the past years have made us more conscious of who we are (French) and what our links to our past and roots mean to us. At

the same time we have added many additional features to our understanding of our world, a little bit like adding widgets to our main operating software, that give us different and additional reading on the same information. The people and cultures that we have visited, lived with and eventually started to understand have left a signiﬁcant imprint in our lives and we keep very dear friends in all the places where we lived. My business skills have greatly beneﬁted from these peregrinations and human interactions. I have been lucky enough to be able to draw from the study of different political systems and economic models that I started to study in my IP&E major to adapt to the changing circumstances of the business life. In part, to thank Middlebury for these opportunities my wife and I have established a scholarship for foreign students in order to give others the chance to test their capacities and spirits in another setup than their usual one, and to take back a piece of Middlebury liberal arts excellence. ■

IP&E and St by Jeffrey Cason Dean of International Programs and Professor of Political Science

IP&E PROGRAM, IP&E majors have been required to study abroad. The motivation for this requirement has been that students who graduate with an IP&E major should have an understanding of how the world—outside the United States— works. And understanding how the world works does not mean just travel abroad; it means getting inside a different culture, a different educational system, and a different way of viewing the world. ROM THE INCEPTION OF THE

The study abroad options for IP&E students are wide-ranging, and at most of Middlebury’s Schools Abroad, there are course offerings in both economics and political science. In addition to Middlebury’s Schools Abroad, IP&E majors also study abroad at other programs, but most study at Middlebury’s own programs. On Middlebury programs, offerings in economics and political science are frequently available in courses at our partner universities, where students have the opportunity to directly enroll in university courses alongside their peers from the host country. Where such direct enroll options are not available, some Middlebury Schools Abroad do offer “in-house” courses that can be appropriate for IP&E majors, and at some

Photos: (center) Palais de I’Institut national de France, Paris; (left, top to bottom) (1) Al Alexandrina, (4) temple in Hangzhou; (right, top to bottom) (5) Ferrara, (6) Program in (7) University of Paris Art History

tudy Abroad sites—particularly in China and Egypt—students have one-on-one tutorials with local faculty in topic of their choosing. Overall, it is important for IP&E students to consider how the study abroad experience will be an integral part of their overall academic program—it should not be thought of as a semester or year “off.” One of the things that Middlebury students discover while studying abroad is that there is usually a good bit more independence—intellectual and otherwise—when abroad, especially compared to Middlebury. This presents both challenges and interesting opportunities. When it comes to planning for study abroad, IP&E majors will want to discuss their plans with their academic advisors. In addition, the Office of International Programs and Off-Campus Study has many resources to offer students both before and during study abroad. Prior to study abroad, staff in the office advise students on course offerings at different programs and universities as well as the practical information that they need to live and study abroad. To schedule an appointment with a staff member to discuss study abroad options, students can call extension 5745. And finally, while abroad on Middlebury programs, students will be able to use the resources made available by on-site Middlebury staff, as each of Middlebury’s schools has at least one (and often several) staff members to help students navigate the academic and non-academic aspects of study abroad. ■

lexandria Citadel, (2) China–Zhejiang University of Technology (ZUT), (3) Bibliotheca Middle East Director Dr. Nehad Heliel with students at Pompey’s Pillar in Alexandria, y library, (8) China, ZUT campus

Change the C

by Jeremy Bittlingmaier Martin ’09

UIDEBOOKS, LOCALS, AND

frequent travelers fail to mention Argentina´s serious problem with change. And I´m not referring to major social movements or political passings of the baton. I´m talking about the change that jingles in your pocket. Coins back in the United States are something we typically have either way too much of or very little use for. But in this part of the southern hemisphere, it´s the exact opposite. Argentine coins possess implicitly high street value because their severe shortage. ECON 0101 would tell us that these coins should then be “priced” higher than their denoted value because of low supply and high demand, right? Well, sort of. The current lack of coins really originates from Argentina´s incredibly high inﬂation rate that mainly stems from the 2002 banking crisis that left Southern Cone countries in shambles. In 2001, the Argentine peso had been pegged to the U.S.

Change?

...they would rather sacriﬁce their sales in order to withhold the change.

dollar at one to one. After the crisis, it devalued to roughly four to one. As a result, coins down here have a higher monetary value than the amount indicated on them. In recent years the Argentine government decided to ship coin metal to neighboring countries who were willing to buy it in bulk for other productive uses. This creates extra revenue for Argentina, but has created a major problem. Hardly anybody has coins. And if they did, they certainly would not let you know about it or give them up without a ﬁght. One night some friends and I found this fact out the hard way. Our group of ﬁve wanted to have a late dinner at a friend´s house across town. But since omnibuses in Buenos Aires require inserting coins, not having them makes getting around incredibly arduous. After being

15 foiled by a closed subway station and the shaking fingers of taxi drivers who don´t accept parties larger than four, we were off in search of coins. I know, a dreadful endeavor indeed. Our first solution: buy cheap items with our bills in hopes of getting coins in return. Doing so might accumulate to a significant enough amount to let us each get on the bus. We discovered these were smart intentions but fairly naive in practice. We bought candy bars and gum but only got only bills back. Sometimes, clerks simply refused to sell us something because they knew we just needed change from the register. Pretty unbelievable - they would rather sacrifice their sales in order to withhold the change. The second solution proved more pragmatic but not economically advantageous: bartering money by

selling it at less than face value. For example, one of us gave a street beggar a $2 Argentine peso (a bill) to receive a $1 Argentine peso coin in return. Needless to say, two hours of scrambling makes one pretty desperate to get where they want to go. Eventually we secured enough change to ride the bus but by the time we arrived it was nearly midnight and we were starving. Having been to Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and now in Uruguay, I can honestly say that Argentina takes the cake in my Latin America experiences when it comes to not having change (again, deﬁnitely not talking about dictatorships and democratic transitions here). Change remains one of the most common quotidian hassles for Argentines and foreigners alike. And in the name of international economic policy. ■

Opinion by Ryan Kellett ’09.5

“

WE HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO BOYCOTT FRENCH SUPERMARKET Carrefour at least on 1 May, to deliver, by the empty Carrefour that day, one message to the western world: Chinese shouldn’t be humiliated! Chinese people shouldn’t be insulted!” In response to a week’s worth of unrelenting foreign criticism in the media, this message spread by cell phone to thousands of young people across Mainland China. Just a week earlier, Hillary Clinton proposed that President Bush boycott the Olympic opening ceremonies: “…I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. …I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.”

Ryan Kellett is from San Francisco, California. He blogs at http://www.ryankellett.com

And from two very different boycott proposals, one gathers just how far apart the “West” and China stand. The West cannot keep the human rights and Olympic spheres separate. Neither China, nor its citizens, can take the harsh journalistic criticism in a moment of great national pride. Tibet is caught in the middle. Foreign journalists want to enter Tibet. China wants foreigners out. Han-Chinese loathe the Dalai Lama. Westerners praise him with Nobel Prizes and Congressional Gold Medals. Where is the common ground? Both sides think it is all about them. In reality, the Olympics are not the ﬁnal exam for China. Nationalism can take better forms than protests outside Carrefour. And battling human rights abuses is a long-term commitment, not just a stump speech. It is time to knock pride and politics down a notch on all sides. ■

Reﬂections on Middlebury’s IP&E Program: A Senior's Perspective

by Eric Lonstein ’08

POLITICS AND ECONOMICS IS Middlebury College’s best major. Admittedly, this statement is biased, unsupported by statistical analysis, and likely to provoke the ire of all non-IPE students and professors. Anticipating the tenacity of these criticisms, I still stand firmly by my original declaration, as it is difficult to imagine how another academic major could have me provided me with a more fulfilling and rewarding educational experience. NTERNATIONAL

As an IP&E major, I pursued a course of study focusing on foreign language, political science, and economics. By studying these academic disciplines in combination, the IP&E program has challenged me to understand the complex interaction between economic incentives and political interests shaping policy in our world today. Two experiences as an IP&E major allowed me to test, apply, and build on what I have already learned in the classroom. The first of these two experiences occurred when I traveled abroad to China in the winter and spring of 2007. While in China, I frequently engaged my roommates and teachers in scholarly debate, discussing China’s ideal role as a rising power in the international system and world economy. I also had the opportunity to visit Chinese factories and speak with local political leaders about the difficult social issues hampering Chinese development. My IP&E background helped me to contextualize these interactions and recognize how local political and economic development in China can have a large effect on other Asian countries, Europe, and even rural Vermont. During my senior year, I continued my studies as an IP&E student by writing a thesis analyzing the relationship between China’s government-controlled media and emerging stock markets. After conducting this research, I discovered that China’s media apparatus is both helping and hindering the efficient allocation of capital in the Chinese stock markets. My IP&E education provided me with the basic skills necessary to undertake a complex research project in a foreign language and also with the essential framework necessary for comprehending the effects of a politicized media system on the evolution of the Chinese financial markets. Before coming to Middlebury, I had little exposure to the complex political, cultural, and economic dynamics defining worldwide events. As an IP&E major, I came in direct contact with valuable knowledge and international opportunities that I never knew existed. Even though I will probably never work as a surgeon with a degree in IP&E, I am excited about the many ways that I can apply what I’ve learned at future jobs. More importantly, I believe that my IP&E perspective on how the world works will help me function effectively as a leader in an increasingly global 21st century. ■

Developing?...

...No, This Country’s Ch by Eric Harvey ’09.5

MONTEVIDEO’S MOST prominent qualities after a month and a half down here in Uruguay. This tiny South American country of just over three million people is nestled in between Argentine and Brazil on the Rio de la Plata, the world’s widest estuary, and the Atlantic Ocean. Commonly confused with the much poorer landlocked Paraguay, Uruguay is another world with one of Latin America’s most stable democracies and a large middle class ﬂush with strong German and Italian heritages. HE PACE OF LIFE IS ONE OF

The beverage yerba mate, a South American infusion of hot water and the dried leaves from the yerba mate plant, is drank through a metal straw from a gourd and is the foundation of life here. People go about their day gourd-in-hand cradling a thermos between their arm and chest. The most popular activity in Uruguay is spending hours on end drinking the bitter beverage with friends on the Rambla, the boardwalk along the Rio de la Plata, to discuss politics (many are following the American primaries closely), socioeconomic woes, soccer or just nothing; I had a 45minute discussion the other day with a friend about the school’s photocopier. While mate is certainly a very chill activity, the culture of tranquility does not stop there. One of the most common expressions is “todo tranqui,” which is probably most appropriately translated as

“everything’s chill.” I recently began an internship with Red Mercosur, a branch of Mercosur, the economic union of South America. Red Mercosur is supposedly a network of institutions dedicated to economic research on regional integration, although my duties thus far have consisted of translating a few pages. I asked if there was a current project I could help with and was expecting to get a stack of TPS reports or something pertaining to economic development, trade or poverty in the context of regional integration. My supervisor’s response? “Todo tranqui.” I took that as a ‘no’ and took another sip of mate while looking out over the waterfront from my desk by the window. Todo tranqui indeed. There are certainly some trade-offs to todo tranqui. This country has got chilling down pat, but todo tranqui has probably resulted in a less productive and dynamic economy. Would Uruguayan’s give up some todo tranqui for more economic growth. I think not. People seem content to arrive at work anywhere between 10 in the morning and three in the afternoon to do their thing for a few hours before retiring to some mate. Could todo tranqui have a role in why Mercosur receives a lot of mixed press many people think it is inefﬁcient or useless (many Uruguayans are in this boat)? Perhaps. If I can ever ﬁgure out exactly what it is that Red Mercosur does, or for that matter, Mercosur in general, I try and give you a better answer. Before I do that though, I need to take a break to chill and drink some mate. ■

hilling.

24 IP&E Mission Statement The carefully structured international politics and economics major provide students with the opportunity to study two disciplines as well as areas that cut across traditional departmental and disciplinary lines. Through courses developed and taught by economics and political science faculty, students examine the globalizing world through a variety of conceptual lenses supplied by the social sciences, learn multiple ways of solving problems, and explore areas of inquiry that intersect traditional disciplines. This approach, in combination with the study of languages and the immersion in another culture during study abroad, prepares students for a wide array of opportunities after college, including further study in graduate and professional schools. IP&E alumni are engaged in careers ranging from investment banking to the Peace Corps, from teaching to government service, journalism, public policy and management consulting.

We are “Green” It does seem a bit strange that in the “digital age” we still consume enormous amounts of mashed up, bleached tree pulp, most of which gets used once or twice and then tossed or recycled. The greenest paper is no paper at all, so keep things digital and dematerialized whenever possible. The more you do online, the less you need paper. Keep files on computers instead of in file cabinets. Review documents onscreen rather than printing them out. Send emails instead of paper letters. Convert to PDF for paperless document sharing.

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