Q2: Your field of specialty is heavily infused with ideologies; tell us about your most and least favorite ones.
Realism is my favorite ideology; although it doesn’t paint a good picture about the world, it is in fact how the world conducts itself nowadays. Everything is based on power, and realism’s main assumption is that countries all follow what benefits them -what they find in terms of power- and you see that every day. Although the world is painted in a liberal way, it’s not [liberal]. My least favorite has to be constructivism, which is basically: everything is a construct. So, the way that society is, is because we created it in that manner, and it functions in any manner we’ve also come about. So, if we believe that society is dysfunctional, it is that way because we already had a previous perception about it being dysfunctional.
Q3: Would you mind telling us about your Master Thesis and what sparked your interest in the first place?
Well, my main one was based on nationalism and ethnic politics. A lot of people have dealt with suffering; it's something that you see every day on the news, which isn’t a very flowery place. In my thesis, I talked about the peoples of Tibet. They are under Chinese rule; they are autonomous, if you want to take it in that manner, but it’s not true because they are suffering under the Chinese regime. So, it’s something in which I relate to human beings, which is empathy and sympathy; it’s a basic thing that you have in everyday life. I wouldn’t call it brotherhood. Humanity, let's just say.
Q4: “History is written by the victors” is a phrase heard often while having any historical discussion. Do you agree with this statement?
Not always; it usually does depend on the source that you’re reading. For example, the Sparta movie 300 was written from a Western perspective, but if you dig deep you'll find out that history does actually take a different course if you have a different point