{ IN PERSON }

The India China Institute (ICI) was founded at The New School in 2004 with a generous gift from the Starr Foundation to pursue new ways of thinking about the re-emergence of India and China on the world stage. Its mission was to study connections and flows between China, India and the United States in the context of a globalizing world that was transcending the bounded assumptions of “national interest” and geographies such as of “East Asia,” “South Asia” or “the West.” Twenty years later, optimism about globalization has been replaced by a disillusionment with liberal promises of mutual prosperity and progress arising from global flows of people, capital, and goods. The international economy is characterized by high tariffs, retaliatory sanctions, and regional trade groupings. States have securitized borders and mobilized grievances against domestic and geopolitical rivals, with raging wars and impending “Cold Wars,” exemplifying the collapse of shared global rules of engagement. Investments in public commons and multilateral institutions have been replaced by a discourse and practice of parochial protectionism.

Join us for the 20th ICI symposium exploring the complex intersections of governance, economy, and memory in contemporary India, China, and the United States. The event presents ways in which nations navigate global authoritarianism, economic nationalism, academic freedom, and historical memory.

April 24, 2025 I 5:00-7:30pm

Opening Remarks by Joel Towers, President of The New School

Panel 1:  The University Under a Global Authoritarian Turn 

 This panel will address the contradictions of academic prestige and academic freedom in contemporary India and China, and to some extent also the United States, and consider the challenges of international academic exchanges in the current environment.

READ MORE

April 25, 2025 I 10:00am- 12:00pm

Panel 2: De-globalization and a New International Political Economy
This panel considers the rise and return of economic nationalism and industrial policy in India, China, and the United States, the emergence of regional blocs, and the ensuing implications for technology sectors, manufacturing, and the global economy.
READ MORE 

April 25, 2025 I 1:30-3:30pm 

Panel 3: Contesting History and Memory
This panel engages in questions of contested memory and remembrance in 21st century India, China and the US, including historical events that have been subject to reinterpretation and censorship, the legacies of colonialism and its impacts on collective memory, and the reframing of history and heritage in schools and museums to transmit new forms of collective memory.
READ MORE

April 25, 2025 I 3:45-5:15pm 

Panel 4: India and China in the Making of a Post-Liberal World

This session features members of ICI's External Advisory Board who will consider the global disruptions launched by the Trump administration and the demise of the liberal international order. The political trajectories of India and China over the past decade can provide a lens to understand changes under way within the United States, as well as the new norms and institutions of a post-liberal, post-American, post-western world order.

READ MORE