Research
Research interests
- Modern Chinese history
- Just war theory
- Peace discourses
- Intellectual history
Current research
My current book project, A Peaceful Nation? China’s Peacefulness Claim from the 19th Century to the Present, explores the changing concepts of war and peace in China across different governments, localities and social groups.
My first book, 1919 – The Year That Changed China (available open access here https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110560718), told the story of the New Culture Movement (also known as May Fourth) as one about academic infighting, rumours and conspiracy theories, newspaper stories and intellectuals (hell-)bent on selling agendas through powerful buzzwords.
I am currently developing an interdisciplinary collaboration with Isaac Taylor at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Stockholm, in which we explore how philosophical just war theory can be rethought in light of China's historical experience in the 20th century. A response to our paper "Asking the Fox to Guard the Chicken Co-op" was published by Lonneke Peperkamp under the title "Restraining the Fox: Minimalism in the Ethics of War and Peace" (https://doi.org/10.1177/17550882211034704).
For a list of publications, see https://hcommons.org/members/elisabethforster/
Podcast
Guest on BBC Radio 4 "In Our Time", talking about the May Fourth Movement with Melvyn Bragg, Rana Mitter and Song-Chuan Chen.
Click here to listen.