Kuhiro Class Reading Circle

Robert Skidelsky’s Keynes’s Road to Bretton Woods traces the development of John Maynard Keynes’s ideas on the international economic system before and during the creation of the Bretton Woods framework.

The paper explores Keynes’s proposals for:

* International monetary cooperation

* Exchange-rate stability

* Regulation of international finance

* Post-war economic reconstruction

From Emperor to Citizen is an autobiography of the last emperor of China, tracing his life from his childhood as the ruler of the Qing dynasty to his later years as an ordinary citizen. The memoir describes his sheltered life in the Forbidden City, the fall of the Qing dynasty, his time under Japanese control in Manchuria, and his eventual imprisonment and rehabilitation.

The book provides an account of the dramatic political and social changes in China during the first half of the twentieth century, while also showing how Puyi’s understanding of his own position changed as the institutions surrounding him disappeared.

Kindly head over to the Kuhiro Class Reading Circle Google Classroom to access the text. Looking forward to hearing different perspectives on the text here in Chautara.

B. S. Chimni’s International Institutions Today: An Imperial Global State in the Making argues that institutions such as the WTO, IMF, World Bank, and the UN have evolved into a network that functions as a nascent global state. According to Chimni, this system primarily advances the interests of transnational capital and powerful states while reducing the autonomy of developing countries.

The article examines how international economic institutions, human rights organizations, environmental regimes, and global governance mechanisms increasingly shape national policies. Chimni also highlights concerns about democratic deficits within these institutions, arguing that developing countries often have limited influence over decisions that significantly affect them.

Kindly head over to the Kuhiro Class Reading Circle Google Classroom to access the text. Looking forward to hearing different perspectives on the text here in Chautara.

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis is a striking exploration of alienation, identity, and the fragility of human relationships. Gregor Samsa’s transformation into an insect serves less as a fantastical event than as a lens through which Kafka examines isolation, the loss of individuality, and the way a person’s value can become tied to their usefulness.

Despite its surreal premise, the novella raises enduring questions about family, responsibility, and what it means to be human. Its ambiguity is part of what has made it one of the most widely discussed works of modern literature.

Kindly head over to the Kuhiro Class Reading Circle Google Classroom to access the text. Looking forward to hearing different perspectives on the text here in Chautara.