Fatton, Foppiani and Kingston Receive 2019 Otto Hieronymi Prize
March 04, 2020
The 2019 Otto Hieronymi Prize has been awarded to Webster Univers faculty members Lionel P. Fatton and Oreste Foppiani, who co-authored Japan's Awakening, and Lindsey N. Kingston, who wrote Fully Human for the best scholarly monograph in International Relations.
Fatton and Foppiani are based at Webster's Geneva campus. Kingston is based at the main campus in St. Louis
The Otto Hieronymi Prize is a bi-annual book prize for the best scholarly monograph in the field of International Relations (including Political Science, International Economics, Diplomatic History, International Public Law, and Humanitarian Migration/Refugee Issues).
The award ceremony will take place on March 19, 2020, on the occasion of the 25th International Humanitarian & Security Conference in the presence of Webster University President Julian Z. Schuster and Otto Hieronymi, the former department head and longtime professor of migration/refugee studies, humanitarian affairs, and international economics at Webster Geneva.
About the Prize Winners
Japan's Awakening, written by Fatton and Foppiani, argues that the country faces an entrapment-abandonment dilemma in which any attempt to prevent abandonment by the United States vis-à-vis China negatively affects its national security by heightening the risk of entrapment in the Korean Peninsula, and vice versa. A move toward autonomy is the only way for Japan to solve this dilemma. The subject is at variance with both the insistence on the constraining effect of domestic norms on Japan’s security policy and the assumption of everlasting reliance on the United States for protection.
Lindsey N. Kingston's Fully Human proposes the idea of "functioning citizenship," which requires an active and mutually-beneficial relationship between the state and the individual and necessitates the opening of political space for those who cannot be neatly categorized. It signifies membership in a political community, in which citizens support their government while enjoying the protections and services associated with their privileged legal status. At the same time, an inclusive understanding of functioning citizenship also acknowledges that political membership cannot always be limited by the borders of the state or proven with a passport.
Fully Human builds its theory by looking at several hierarchies of personhood, from the stateless to the forcibly displaced, migrants, nomadic peoples, indigenous nations, and "second class" citizens in the United States. It challenges the binary between citizen and noncitizen, arguing that rights are routinely violated in the space between the two. By recognizing these realities, we uncover limitations built into our current international system—but also begin to envision a path toward the realization of human rights norms founded on universality and inalienability. The ideal of functioning citizenship acknowledges the persistent power of the state, yet it does not rely solely on traditional conceptions of citizenship that have proven too flawed and limited for securing true rights protection.
The Otto Hieronymi Prize
The Otto Hieronymi prize was created and sponsored by the faculty of the Department of International Relations at Webster University Geneva in 2019 to honor Otto Hieronymi, former head of the Department and founder of the annual International Humanitarian and Security Conference (webster.ch/ihsc). This prize is open to all History, Politics and International Relations (HPIR) faculty of Webster University network worldwide.
The Department of International Relations at Webster University Geneva administers the competition for the award, consisting of CHF 1’500 and a plaque, through an independent committee composed of two Webster University professors and one external scholar.