Staff Profiles

Dr David Kerr, M.A., M.Phil., M.Sc., Ph.D. (Glasgow)

Lecturer in the School of Government and International Affairs

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 45665

Room number: 216, The Al-Qasimi Building

Member of the Centre for Contemporary China Studies

Biography and Research Specialism

David Kerr is Director of Durham University's Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, and Lecturer in the International Relations of China. He joined Durham University in 2002 after studying and teaching at the University of Glasgow.

David Kerr specialises in three areas: the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation; the security politics of Asia, especially Inner Asia; and international relations between China and the European Union. In 2009-10 he served as specialist adviser to the UK House of Lords inquiry into European Union-China relations. The inquiry report is here.

Research Supervision

Current supervision:
Phan-orn Powcharoen (Thailand) 'North Korea and Rational Deterrence'; Yanzhuo Xu (PRC) 'China and International Responsibility in Africa'; J. Orenstein (USA) 'China and World Order'; Di Xu (PRC) 'Maritime Environmental Regimes in East and South China Seas'; R. Contreras Luna (Mexico) 'Siberia and the Asian Century'; S. Uslu (Turkey) 'Turkey-China strategic relations'; X. Zhang (PRC) 'Strategic distrust in US-China relations'; S. Chen (PRC) 'Trust and mistrust in China-Japan relations'; Gerard Charles (UK) 'Acculturation of Hui populations in Qinghai'; M. Sunuodula (UK) 'Multilingual education policy in Xinjiang'.

Successful defences:
D. Amaraegbu (Nigeria) 'Corruption strategies in West Africa'; G. Filis (Greece) 'Geopolitics of the Caucasus'; Chenchen Wu (PRC) 'China's Economic Statecraft'; A. Aborhmah (Saudi Arabia) 'The Saudi-China Strategic Partnership'; R. Bouveng (Sweden) 'Messianism in Russian Foreign Policy'; M.T.Khan (Pakistan) 'Missile Regime for South Asia'; Ying Yu (PRC) 'Political Contestation in China'; N. Al-Tamimi (Palestine) 'China's Oil Strategy and the Partnership with Saudi Arabia'; S.Fergus (UK) 'US foreign policy pluralism and China'; M. Drake (USA) 'China's entrepreneurs and democratic change'; Hsin-che Wu (Taiwan) 'Confucian Cultures and East Asian Democracy'.

Teaching Areas

Level 3: "China: state and society since 1949"
MA: "Strategic Asia: policy and analysis"
MA: "Nationalism, Revolution and Reform in Contemporary China"

Research Groups

International Relations/International Political Economy

Research Interests

European and Asian Security Regionalism
Human Security of Inner Asia
Security and Diplomacy of China and the Russian Federation

Publications

Books: edited

David Kerr, Durham. & Liu Fei, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (2007). The International Politics of EU-China Relations. British Academy Occasional Papers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Edited works: contributions

Kerr, David. (2012). "Climate change of the Trans-Himalayan region and its impact on China-South Asia water security". In China’s Challenges to Human Security: foreign relations and global implications. Guoguang Wu. Routledge. 80-104.
Kerr, David. (2012). "Problems of Grand Strategy in EU-China Relations". In China and the European Union: conflict or concord?. Jan van der Harst & Pieter Swieringa Maastricht: Shaker. 69-88.
Kerr, David. (2011). "Paradoxes of Tradition and Modernity at the New Frontier: China, Islam, and the problem of ‘different heavens". In China Orders the World: Normative Soft Power and Foreign Policy. Edited by: William A. Callahan, & Elena Barabantseva. Baltimore for the Woodrow Wilson Center Press Washington, D.C.: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 143-179.
Kerr, David (2007). 'Between Regionalism and World Order: five structural factors in China-Europe relations to 2025'. In The International Politics of EU-China Relations. Kerr, David & Liu Fei Oxford: Oxford University Press. British Academy Occasional Paper 10.: 289-317.
Kerr, David (2001). 'Chinese Relations with the Russian Far East'. In The Russian Far East and Pacific Asia: Unfulfilled Potential. Bradshaw, M.J. Richmond: Curzon Press. 182-203.
Kerr, D. (1998). 'Eurasianism and Russian Foreign Policy'. In Is Russia a European Power?. K. Malfliet K.U. Leuven: Leuven.

Journal papers: academic

Kerr, David. (2010). 'Central Asian and Russian perspectives on China's strategic emergence'. International Affairs 86(1): 127-152.
Kerr, David. (2009). 'Dilemmas of the 'Middle Continent': Russian Strategy for Eastern Eurasia'. The International Spectator 44(2): 75 - 94
Kerr, David & Swinton, Laura C. (2008). 'China, Xinjiang and the Transnational Security of Central Asia'. Critical Asian Studies 40(1): 89-112.
Kerr, David (2007). 'Has China abandoned self-reliance?'. Review of International Political Economy 14(1): 77-104.
Kerr, David (2005). 'The Sino-Russia Partnership and US Policy Toward North Korea: From hegemony to concert in Northeast Asia'. International Studies Quarterly 49(3): 411-438.
D. Kerr (2004). 'Greater China and East Asian Integration: Regionalism and Rivalry'. East Asia: an International Quarterly 21(1): 75-92.
D. Kerr (1999). The Chinese and Russian Energy Sectors: Comparative Change and Potential Interaction. Post-Communist Economies 11(3): 337-372.
D. Kerr (1998). Problems in Sino-Russian Economic Relations. Europe-Asia Studies 50(7): 1133-1156.
D. Kerr (1996). Opening and Closing the Sino-Russian Border: Trade, Regional Development and Political Interest in Northeast Asia. Europe-Asia Studies 48(6): 931-957.
D. Kerr (1995). The New Eurasianism: The Rise of Geopolitics in Russia's Foreign Policy. Europe-Asia Studies 47(6): 977-988.

Journal papers: online

Kerr, David. (2012). "China and Inner Asia: New Frontiers and New Challenges". International Affairs Forum (Summer 2012.): 21-28.