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2. Refugees Revitalizing Emptied Spain
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Susan Akram is a Clinical Professor at the Boston University School of Law and the Director of the International Human Rights Clinic. Her research and publications focus on immigration, asylum, refugee, forced migration, and human and civil rights issues, with an interest in the Middle East, the Arab, and Muslim world. She is currently leading the "Refugees Revitalizing Emptied Spain" project, which would place refugees and asylum seekers in municipalities that are struggling to survive in the face of massive population loss, as young people move to larger cities in search of economic opportunities.
- Topic:
- Immigration, Refugees, Asylum, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Spain
3. Starr Forum: Ukraine and Russia One Year On: The Domestic Impact of the War
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Ukraine and Russia One Year On: The Domestic Impact of the War
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Governance, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
4. Enhancing the Benefits of Human Mobility through Development Interventions
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- During each academic year, the Committee sponsors a seminar series on international migration, The Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration, held at MIT's Center for International Studies. The seminars explore factors affecting international population movements and their impact upon sending and receiving countries and relations among them.
- Topic:
- Development, Migration, Displacement, and Mobility
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
5. Crossing the Divide: Rural to Urban Migration in Developing Countries
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Robert E.B. Lucas is Professor of Economics at Boston University. His research has focused largely, though not exclusively, on developing countries. Most of the contributions are empirical with a few theory papers, encompassing international and internal migration, employment and human resources, income distribution and inter-generational inequality, international trade and industry, sharecropping, and the environment. His publications include seven books, the most recent of which are Migration and Development: The Role for Development Aid (2019) and Crossing the Divide: Rural to Urban Migration in Developing Countries (2021).
- Topic:
- Development, Migration, Governance, Urban, and Rural
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6. International Law and Palestine featuring George Bisharat
- Author:
- George E. Bisharat
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Law is where power announces its victories. In other words, law generally, and international law in particular, have little independent potency to shape social and political realities. That principle is well-demonstrated in the case of Israel/Palestine, where law has exercised little impact on the ground, other than to legitimate Israel’s domination and dispossession of the Palestinians among certain audiences. Can that dynamic be altered, such that Palestinian rights can be vindicated by law? Possibly, by treating international law as one kind of discourse that is persuasive in certain contexts and in certain fora, from which Palestinian voices cannot afford to be absent. It follows, however, that legal discourse is not a substitute for other forms of struggle, and is likely capable of no more than a subordinate role in a broader movement for Palestinian rights.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, International Law, and Justice
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
7. Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential
- Author:
- Heba Gowayed
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Drawing on a global and comparative ethnography, this presentation explores how Syrian men and women seeking refuge in a moment of unprecedented global displacement are received by countries of resettlement and asylum—the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It shows that human capital, typically examined as the skills immigrants bring with them that shape their potential, is actually created, transformed, or destroyed by receiving states’ incorporation policies. Since these policies derive from historically informed and unequal approaches to social welfare, refugees’ experiences raise a mirror to how states (re)produce inequality.
- Topic:
- Refugees, Inequality, Human Capital, Resettlement, and Asylum
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Canada, Germany, Syria, and United States of America
8. The Two Faces of American Freedom
- Author:
- Aziz Rana
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Professor Rana situates the American experience within the global history of colonialism, examining the intertwined relationship in U.S. constitutional practice between internal accounts of freedom and external projects of power and expansion. In the process, he reinterprets the American political tradition from the colonial period to modern times, placing issues especially of race, immigration, and national security in the context of shifting notions of empire and citizenship.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, National Security, Politics, Race, Citizenship, Colonialism, and Freedom
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
9. Decoupling: Gender Injustice in China’s Divorce Courts
- Author:
- Ethan Michelson and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Using 'big data' computational techniques to scrutinize cases covering 2009–2016 from all 252 basic-level courts in two Chinese provinces, Henan and Zhejiang, Ethan Michelson reveals that women have borne the brunt of a dramatic intensification since the mid-2000s of a decades-long practice of denying divorce requests. This talk discusses key findings from his new book of the same name. Michelson's analysis of almost 150,000 divorce trials reveals routine and egregious violations of China's own laws upholding the freedom of divorce, gender equality, and the protection of women's physical security. Michelson takes the reader upstream to the institutional sources of China's clampdown on divorce and downstream to its devastating and highly gendered human toll, showing how judges in an overburdened court system clear their oppressive dockets at the expense of women's lawful rights and interests.
- Topic:
- Women, Courts, Justice, Gender, and Divorce
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
10. Perfect Spy: The Arc of Pham Xuan An’s Life from War to Peace
- Author:
- Larry Berman and Lien-Hang T. Nguyen
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- What goes on in the heart of a spy? Can a spy truly have friends? What makes a spy tick? How does a spy decide between loyalty to a secret mission and loyalty to friends and colleagues? During the war, Pham Xuan An was the dean of Vietnamese journalists, employed by Time magazine as a full-fledged correspondent. None of his colleagues knew that An was really Vietnamese communist agent X6, whose training began years before the arrival of American combat troops and ended on April 30, 1975. For over twenty years Pham Xuan An lived his cover, deceiving everyone about his real identity while providing indispensable intelligence to Hanoi. After the war, Pham Xuan An was promoted to the rank of Major General and given the title People’s Army Hero. Yet, Pham Xuan An also became a symbol for reconciliation between former enemies.
- Topic:
- War, History, Peace, and Espionage
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Vietnam
11. Government Courtesans in the Northern Military Areas -- A Lecture with Hyun Suk Park
- Author:
- Hyun Suk Park and Jungwon Kim
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A 45-50-minute talk followed by Q and A. Professor Hyun Suk Park will discuss the courtesan culture of Chosŏn Korea by reflecting upon the intersections between state power, gender politics, and literary culture through travel writings and literary works.
- Topic:
- Politics, History, Culture, State, Literature, Power, Gender, and Military
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Korea
12. Conceptualization and Operationalization of Ambiguous Loss Among Left Behind Children in Rural China
- Author:
- Xiaojin Chen and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This lecture explores the effects of rural-to-urban migration on children’s development, including child abuse, victimization, and mental health problems.
- Topic:
- Development, Migration, Children, Mental Health, Urban, Rural, Abuse, and Victimization
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
13. In the Forest of the Blind: The Eurasian Journey of Faxian's Record of Buddhist Kingdoms
- Author:
- Matthew W. King and Gray Tuttle
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Speaker's Bio: Matthew King is an Associate Professor of Buddhist Studies and Director of Asian Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He is also a visiting scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute for 2022-2023. His research examines the social history of knowledge in Buddhist scholastic networks extending across the Tibeto-Mongolian frontiers of the late Qing empire and its revolutionary ruins. Much of his published work has focused on encounters between Buddhist scholasticism, science, humanism, and state socialism in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He is also broadly engaged with methodological revision in the study of religion and Buddhist Studies, and in revisionist theoretical projects associated with the critical Asian humanities. King's first book Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire (Columbia University Press, 2019), was awarded the American Academy of Religion Excellence in the Study of Religion: Textual Studies book award, the Central Eurasian Studies Society's 2020 Best Book in History and Humanities, and the International Convention of Asia Scholars Book Prize (Specialist Publication).
- Topic:
- Religion, History, and Buddhism
- Political Geography:
- Eurasia and Asia
14. Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions Under Xi Jinping
- Author:
- Bates Gill and Elizabeth Wishnick
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Daring to Struggle focuses on six increasingly important interests for today's China—legitimacy, sovereignty, wealth, power, leadership and ideas—and details how the determined pursuit of them at home and abroad profoundly shapes its foreign relationships, contributing to a more contested strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Leadership, Legitimacy, Xi Jinping, Strategic Interests, Power, and Wealth
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
15. Photography and Tibet with Clare Harris
- Author:
- Clare Harris and Lauran Hartley
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- From the earliest attempts to capture Tibet with the camera in the mid-nineteenth century, photographs have been used to create visual narratives about the country and its people and to perform in politicised debates about them. Initially, outsiders from both East and West dominated the practice of enlisting photography to construct representations of Tibet ranging from the positive to the malign. However, by the early twentieth century, Tibetans themselves began to take up the camera and to deploy it in ways that deviate from those externally produced stereotypes. In this talk, Clare Harris, explores some of the modes in which photographs have been instrumentalised by insiders and outsiders and critically evaluates the history of Tibet photography. The talk will be an overview of some of the arguments presented in her book, ‘Photography and Tibet’, and illustrated with many of the rare images she has unearthed in archives and elsewhere over the course of more than twenty years of research on the subject.
- Topic:
- Politics, Aesthetics, Photography, and Agency
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
16. The Seventh Dalai Lama's Residence in Kham with Yudru Tsomu
- Author:
- Yudru Tsomu and Gray Tuttle
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The Seventh Dalai Lama’s residence at Gartar Monastery (Mgar thar dgon, མགར་ཐར་དགོན། ), beginning in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court’s control over Kham. The Dalai Lama’s interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting check-points, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural center of northern Kham, having the function of “civilizing” and “enlightening” the neighboring regions that were far away from the political center. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery—all the way up to 1920—came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the monks of Gartar influenced, interfered and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist the Tibetan government’s efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.
- Topic:
- Government, Religion, History, Buddhism, and Dalai Lama
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
17. Rejuvenating Communism: Youth Organizations and Elite Renewal in Post-Mao China
- Author:
- Jérôme Doyon and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Working for the administration remains one of the most coveted career paths for young Chinese. Rejuvenating Communism: Youth Organizations and Elite Renewal in Post-Mao China seeks to understand what motivates young and educated Chinese to commit to a long-term career in the party-state and how this question is central to the Chinese regime’s ability to maintain its cohesion and survive. Jérôme Doyon draws upon extensive fieldwork and statistical analysis in order to illuminate the undogmatic commitment recruitment techniques and other methods the state has taken to develop a diffuse allegiance to the party-state in the post-Mao era. He then analyzes recruitment and political professionalization in the Communist Party’s youth organizations and shows how experiences in the Chinese Communist Youth League transform recruits and feed their political commitment as they are gradually inducted into the world of officials. As the first in-depth study of the Communist Youth League’s role in recruitment, this book challenges the assumption that merit is the main criteria for advancement within the party-state, an argument with deep implications for understanding Chinese politics today.
- Topic:
- Communism, Politics, History, Youth, and Elites
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
18. Teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Western Academy with Jan Willis
- Author:
- Jan Willis
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Through personal and practical anecdotes from her own life and teaching, Dr. Jan Willis describes in this talk how, over the course of fifty years, she both learned and taught Tibetan Buddhism in undergraduate academic settings in the West. Looking at the obstacles and challenges of teaching an “esoteric” religious tradition, the talk is as much about pedagogy as about Tibetan Buddhism.
- Topic:
- Religion, Pedagogy, Buddhism, and Tradition
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
19. Japan's New Security Strategy and the Changing Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific
- Author:
- Sheila Smith and Gerald Curtis
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Major changes that have occurred in the global political economy and in international politics in recent years have had a profound impact on nations all around the world. This is nowhere more evident than in the countries in the Indo-Pacific region and especially Japan. This conversation addresses Japan's evolving foreign policy and its impact in the Indo-Pacific.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Political Economy, Geopolitics, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Asia, and Indo-Pacific
20. History and Development of the Library of Congress Tibetan Collection with Susan Meinheit
- Author:
- Susan Meinheit
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- With a career spanning 47 years at the Library of Congress, Susan Meinheit has had a pioneering role in the development, management, and conservation of the Library of Congress' vast Tibetan collection, one of the largest in the world. From her first LC position as a library clerk, it was through her area and language expertise -- combined with sheer determination -- that she essentially carved out her role as steward and champion of LC's long-neglected early TIbetan holdings which were based on the collections of three major scholars of Tibet and southwest China and acquired by LC in the early 1900s. Meinheit will talk about the early history of the collection; the growth of the collection through the PL-480 Books program with India, and achievements in bringing wider visibility of the Tibetan holdings through major cataloging and digitization initiatives.
- Topic:
- History, Digitization, Library of Congress, and Archives
- Political Geography:
- Mongolia, Asia, and Tibet
21. Crossing Rivers by Yakhide-Boat and Horsehead-Ferry: Waterways in Pre-1959 Tibet with Diana Lange
- Author:
- Diane Lange
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Professor Diana. Lange will speak on the significance of waterways for infrastructure, economy and socio-cultural life in pre-1959 Tibet. She focuses on ferry and transport services in the Tibetan corvée tax system, including the nature of taxation on a specific Tibetan village – the fishing village of Jun in Chushur County in Central Tibet. Her research is based on extensive fieldwork in this fishing village conducted during several trips to the area between 2003 and 2012. She also analyzes how fishermen in Southern and Central Tibet adapted to the geographical, ecological and cultural conditions of their environment.
- Topic:
- History, Infrastructure, Economy, and Rivers
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
22. A Dialogue with Chairman of the Taiwan People's Party, Dr. Ko Wen-je
- Author:
- Wen-je Ko and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Ko Wen-je is chairperson of the Taiwan People’s Party and a possible candidate in the 2024 Taiwan presidential election. He was mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022. Before entering politics, Dr. Ko was a leading transplant surgeon at National Taiwan University College of Medicine.
- Topic:
- Politics and Elections
- Political Geography:
- Taiwan and Asia
23. Imperfect Partners: The United States and Southeast Asia
- Author:
- Scot Marciel and Ann Marie Murphy
- Publication Date:
- 05-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event will discuss U.S.-Southeast Asian relations with Ambassador Scot Marciel, the former United States Ambassador to Indonesia and Myanmar. The talk will be based on his new book which will be released on March 15, 2023 entitled Imperfect Partners: the United States and Southeast Asia. Imperfect Partners is a unique hybrid – part memoir, part foreign policy study of U.S. relations with Southeast Asia, a critically important region that has become the central arena in the global U.S.-China competition. From the People Power revolt in the Philippines to the opening of diplomatic relations with Vietnam, from building a partnership with newly democratic Indonesia to responding to genocide in Myanmar and coups in Thailand, Scot Marciel was present and involved. His direct involvement and deep knowledge of the region, along with his extensive policymaking work in Washington, allows him to bring to life the complexities and realities of key events and U.S. responses, along with rare insights into U.S. foreign policy decision-making and the work of American diplomats in the field.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Competition
- Political Geography:
- China, Indonesia, Asia, North America, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and United States of America
24. Understanding Qing Officialdom Through Big Data
- Author:
- Cameron Campbell and Junyan Jiang
- Publication Date:
- 05-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Cameron Campbell is Chair Professor in the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Before joining HKUST in 2013, he was Professor in the Department of Sociology at UCLA and an affiliate of the California Centre for Population Research (CCPR) at UCLA. His research focuses on demography, stratification and inequality in historical China and in comparative perspective. With other members of the Lee-Campbell group, he studies official, educational, and professional elites in China from the middle of the 18th century to the present. He also leads the study of the Qing civil service from the middle of the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th century by construction and analysis of a database of office holders called the China Government Employee Database-Qing (CGED-Q). He is involved in two other major projects with the Lee-Campbell Group that involve the creation and analysis of large, longitudinal, individual-level databases from archival records: a study of the social origins and careers of university students, professionals, and other elites in the first half of the twentieth century and a study of rural society in mainland China from 1949 to the mid-1960s using village-level microdata. His papers have appeared in such journals as American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Demography, Population Studies, and Demographic Research. I was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2004 and a Changjiang Scholar at Central China Normal University from 2017 to 2020. For 2022-23, I will be a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
- Topic:
- History and Civil Services
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
25. Narratives of Civic Duty – A Book Talk by Aram Hur
- Author:
- Aram Hur and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A 45-minute talk followed by Q and A, based on Dr. Hur’s recent book from Cornell UP, Narratives of Civic Duty: How National Stories Shape Democracy in Asia (Studies of the WEAI). Dr. Hur’s book focuses particularly on the Koreas and Taiwan.
- Topic:
- Democracy, Society, Civic Engagement, and Narrative
- Political Geography:
- Asia
26. Rethinking "China" and the "Cold War"
- Author:
- Chien Wen Kung and Eugenia Lean
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Fears of Southeast Asia’s Chinese as conduits for the People's Republic of China defined the Cold War in Southeast Asia. Yet, ironically, the example of the Philippine Chinese shows that the "China" which intervened the most extensively in any Southeast Asian country after 1949 was the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. Based on the speaker’s book, Diasporic Cold Warriors, this talk explains how one of the smallest overseas Chinese communities in the region became the most ardent diasporic supporters of the ROC in the world from the 1950s to the 1970s. During this period, the Kuomintang-ROC party-state's overseas Chinese networks entrenched themselves in the Philippines with the consent and participation of the Philippine state, giving rise to a dynamic and contingent arrangement of shared, non-territorial sovereignty. Taipei and Manila's intersecting anticommunist projects were, in turn, instrumental to how translocal Chinese forged politically appropriate identities and adapted themselves to the postcolonial Philippines as ethno-ideological subjects.
- Topic:
- Cold War, History, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia
27. Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan – A Book Talk by Maya Stiller
- Author:
- Maya Stiller and Seong Uk Kim
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A 50-minute talk followed by Q and A with Maya Stiller, Associate Professor of Korean Art History & Visual Culture in the Art History Department at the University of Kansas, on Dr. Stiller’s recent book, "Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan," winner of the American Historical Association’s 2021 Patricia Buckley Ebrey Prize. Dr. Stiller’s book focuses particularly on elite graffiti in late Chosŏn Korea (17th to 19th centuries).
- Topic:
- History, Arts, and Graffiti
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Korea
28. Factual Fiction Versus Autobiography – Marie Myung-Ok Lee on The Evening Hero
- Author:
- Marie Myung-Ok Lee
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The alchemical magic of fiction means it can involve not just the stories of people, but places and history can be characters on their own. Fiction can tell us about lives people lived with the same truths as a history book, but a different approach. Humans naturally want story, and also truth. It’s a time honored way to create characters and lives based on people we know. But what is it like to write backwards into things we don’t know, but wish we did? Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee speaks about how her family stories—and also silences--of migration and war, her trip to North Korea, and other research informs the fictional world of "The Evening Hero," a winner of a Columbia Humanities War & Peace Initiative Grant.
- Topic:
- Migration, War, History, Literature, Narrative, and Fiction
- Political Geography:
- Asia and North Korea
29. Public Attitudes Towards Social Spending: Evidence from Hong Kong and Singapore
- Author:
- Alfred M. Wu and Qin Gao
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This lecture examines the psychosocial impact of rural-to-urban migration on youth in China using a multisystemic resilience framework and discusses potential interventions to promote more sustainable and equitable urbanization. This event is part of the 2022-2023 lecture series on “Urbanization, Well-being, and Public Policy: China from Comparative Perspectives” and is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by Columbia's China Center for Social Policy.
- Topic:
- Migration, Urbanization, Youth, Urban, and Rural
- Political Geography:
- Asia, Singapore, and Hong Kong
30. Mongolia Between Two Giants: Cold War Lessons and Today’s Realities
- Author:
- Batbayar Tsedendamba, Segey Radchenko, Morris Rossabi, and Elizabeth Wishnick
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Ambassador Batbayar will discuss Mongolia’s effort to achieve a delicate balance between its two big neighbors, namely Russia and China, and between the Russian Federation and its so-called “third neighbor” [democratic partner] countries. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mongolia has endeavored to stay as neutral as possible both between Russia and China, and between Russia and the West. This contrasts with the Cold War period, when Mongolia was faced with intense confrontation between its two giant neighbors: Russia and China. At that time, Mongolia had no other choice but to enter into an alliance with Moscow. Today Mongolia is again facing the old dilemma about maintaining equidistance from its two giant neighbors: Russia and China. But unlike Cold War era, Mongolia has developed extensive relations with “third neighbor countries”; namely the USA, the EU, Japan and South Korea all have an enormous stake in Mongolia’s future as a democratic and prosperous country. Therefore, Ulaanbaatar has a great dilemma between short-term economic gains from ties with Moscow and Beijing or a long-term commitment to Western democracy and freedom.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Diplomacy, History, Regional Politics, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Ukraine, Mongolia, and Asia
31. Treason by the Margins of the Book: Censorship, Philology, History and Memory in 18th Century China
- Author:
- Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Eugenia Lean
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This talk brings from the archives a hitherto unknown case of a minor scholar from Northern China who punished brutally for writing 16 characters about “barbarians” that he wrote on the margins of a forgotten 3rd century book. The talk traces the history of case all the way back to the 3rd century, and analyses it by looking at the scholarly and familial lineages to which it belonged. Looking at the ethnographical dimensions of the case we then turn to discuss what it means for New Qing History and particularly Qing ideology during the Qianlong period.
- Topic:
- History, Memory, Censorship, Qing Dynasty, and Philology
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
32. Reading The Backstreets in Ürümchi: Translation as Ethnographic Method and Practice of Refusal
- Author:
- Darren Byler and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- While conducting ethnographic fieldwork in Northwest China in 2014, anthropologist Darren Byler found that a Uyghur language novel, The Backstreets, helped Uyghurs to narrate their own stories. By shifting the frame of the narrative of colonial violence away from the authority of the state toward the work it takes for the colonized to live, this difficult, absurdist fable gave young Uyghurs a way to articulate experiences of dehumanization and rage. With its English-language translation and publication, it also gave the novelist, Perhat Tursun, a way of refusing his own silencing through censorship and, ultimately, imprisonment. The Backstreets in Ürümchi is a novel by Perhat Tursun, a leading Uyghur writer, poet, and social critic from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Perhat Tursun has published many short stories and poems as well as three novels, including the controversial The Art of Suicide (1999), decried as anti-Islamic. In 2018, he was detained by the Chinese authorities and was reportedly given a sixteen-year prison sentence. Byler was a cotranslator with ‘Anonymous,’ who disappeared in 2017, and is presumed to be in the reeducation camp system in northwest China. This event would be meaningful to students and faculty in many different areas of the university including the above proposed cosponsors, and students of China and Inner Asia.
- Topic:
- Culture, Minorities, Ethnography, Literature, Language, and Uyghurs
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Xinjiang
33. MENA Music and More!
- Author:
- Danny Hajjar and Fadi Nicholas Nassar
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- On today's episode, Middle East Focus kicks off the new year with Danny Hajjar, whose newsletter Sa'alouni El Nas brings diverse music and perspectives from the MENA region to inboxes worldwide. Interviewing Danny is Fadi Nicholas Nassar, U.S.-Lebanon Fellow at the Middle East Institute, Director of the Institute for Social Justice and Conflict Resolution, and Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Lebanese American University (LAU).
- Topic:
- Arts, Culture, and Music
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and North Africa
34. EU Energy Security & the Maghreb
- Author:
- Intissar Fakir and Alberto Rizzi
- Publication Date:
- 01-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- North Africa and the Sahel Program Director Intissar Fakir speaks to Alberto Rizzi - pan-European fellow at the Rome Office of the European Council on Foreign Relations - about existing and future energy partnerships between the European Union and the Maghreb. In the wake of energy market disruption caused by the conflict in Ukraine, what alternative fuel sources are the EU looking towards - and how does this align with current production capacities in Maghreb countries?
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, European Union, Energy, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe, North Africa, and Morocco
35. Justice, the Beirut Blast, and Lebanon's Continued Crisis
- Author:
- Fadi Nicholas Nassar and Ronnie Chatah
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- MEI's U.S.-Lebanon Fellow Fadi Nicholas Nassar speaks to Ronnie Chatah - host of the Beirut Banyan and founder of WalkBeirut - about justice in the wake of the Beirut Blast. Why have family members of the blast's victims recently been arrested, and where does accountability lie as Lebanon continues to slip into further crisis?
- Topic:
- Accountability, Justice, Disaster Management, Economic Crisis, and Beirut Blast
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Lebanon
36. Is There a Way Forward for Political Resolution in Yemen?
- Author:
- Fatima Abo Alasrar and Ibrahim Jalal
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Director of MEI's Arabian Peninsula Program Gerald Feierstein speaks to MEI Non-Resident Scholars Fatima Abo Alasrar & Ibrahim Jalal on a host of current events in Yemen. What have been the takeaways from U.S. Special Envoy Timothy Lenderking's recent visit to the country - and what are the current trends in the Saudi-Houthi dialogue?
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Diplomacy, Politics, Houthis, and Armed Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf Nations
37. Russia's Influence in MENA After a Year of War in Ukraine
- Author:
- Matthew Czekaj, Iulia-sabina Joja, Alex Vatanka, Yörük Işık, Charles Lister, and Roger Kangas
- Publication Date:
- 02-2023
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- MEI Managing Editor Matthew Czekaj speaks with scholars Iulia-Sabina Joja, Alex Vatanka, Yörük Işık, Charles Lister, and Roger Kangas on Russia's current standing in the Middle East a year since re-invading Ukraine. How has Russian aggression in Ukraine redrawn Moscow’s relationships in the MENA region? And as the Middle East increasingly becomes a key area of global great power competition, is Russia still a meaningful player there, politically, economically, militarily, and diplomatically?
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, Politics, Military, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Ukraine, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa
38. Starr Forum: Republics of Myth: National Narratives and the US-Iran Conflict
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Why does the rift between the US and Iran persist? A new book by CIS scholars sheds new light on this longstanding conflict.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, North America, and United States of America
39. Design to Live: Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Panel discussion with experts :: Part of the Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration Panelists: Azra Akšamija, an artist and architectural historian, is Director and Founder of the MIT Future Heritage Lab (FHL) and Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Architecture and the Program in Art, Culture, and Technology. Raafat Majzoub, an architect, artist, and writer, is Director of The Khan: The Arab Association for Prototyping Cultural Practices and Editor-in-Chief of the Dongola Architecture Series. Melina Philippou, an architect and urbanist, is Program Director of the MIT Future Heritage Lab, founder of Trapezui: Marble Objecthoods and Associate at the Department of City Planning, Ministry of Interior in Cyprus. Moderator: John Tirman is the executive director and a principal research scientist at MIT's Center for International Studies. Tirman is author, or coauthor and editor, of fourteen books on international affairs, including, Dream Chasers: Immigration and the American Backlash (MIT Press, 2015) and The Deaths of Others: The Fate of Civilians in America’s Wars (Oxford University Press, 2011). About the book, Design to Live: Everyday Inventions from a Refugee Camp: The power of art and design to create a life worth living: designs, inventions, and artworks from the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. This book shows how refugees use art and design to transform their living environments, restoring humanity within circumstances that seem aimed at depriving them of it. Featuring more than twenty projects created by Syrian refugees at the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, Design to Live offers a new way of understanding design as a subversive worldmaking practice and as tool for reclaiming agency in conditions of forced displacement. The projects—including a vertical garden, an arrangement necessitated by regulations that forbid planting on the ground; a front hall, fashioned to protect privacy; a baby swing, made from recycled school desks; and a chess set, carved from broomsticks—showcase the discrepancy between standardized humanitarian design and the real sociocultural needs of refugees.
- Topic:
- Arts, Culture, Refugees, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
40. Starr Forum: The Collapse of the Soviet Empire and the seeds of the new European war
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Vladislav Zubok is professor of international history, with expertise on the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Stalinism, and Russia’s intellectual history in the 20th century. His most recent books are Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union (2021), The Idea of Russia: The Life and Work of Dmitry Likhachev (2017), Dmitry Likhachev. The Life and the Century (in Russian, 2016) A Failed Empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007) and Zhivago’s Children: the Last Russian Intelligentsia (2009). Co-chairs: Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine. She is co-director of the MISTI MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Cold War, Governance, Leadership, Conflict, and Empire
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Soviet Union
41. MIT X TAU Series: #TheAfricaWeWant
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The seventh webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, Governance, Sustainability, and Humanitarian Crisis
- Political Geography:
- Africa
42. MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s Cultural Force
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The sixth webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, International Cooperation, Governance, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa
43. Starr Forum: Governing the Unpredictable: Disasters, the State, and Futures
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The main emphasis is the State's (mostly US, but some international angles) role in disaster management and the discrepancies between perception, legal frameworks, expectations and aspirations, as well as what that means moving into an anthropocenic era of more frequent, perhaps constant, crisis.
- Topic:
- Governance, Leadership, Crisis Management, and Statehood
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
44. MIT X TAU Series: What Kinds of Future Leaders Does Africa Need?
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The fifth webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa. Featuring: Peris Nyaboe Bosire - co-founder of FarmDrive Peris Bosire is passionate about inclusive financial systems and economic mobility. Her goal is to build meaningful technology platforms and digital financial services to drive capital where it’s needed most. She is a computer scientist with successful experience in using technology to innovate and distribute high-impact, scalable solutions. Peris is the co-founder of FarmDrive, a technology company that applies data science and finance to build software that increases access to meaningful financial services. FarmDrive’s mission is to transform every smallholder farmer (SHF) and agriculture value chain SME in Africa into a sustainable and profitable business. FarmDrive’s big bet is to increase the flow of capital to the agriculture sector in Africa, especially to smallholder farmers and SMEs working in the agriculture value chain. Peris has led FarmDrive through exciting product rollouts and strategic partnerships. A notable achievement is a partnership with the largest telecommunication company in East Africa (Safaricom) to roll out DigiFarm, a neobank for farmers. FarmDrive’s work has led to a digital registry of over 1 million smallholder farmers in Kenya and unlocked a loan portfolio of over $40 million dollars so far in loans to farmers and small businesses across Kenya. FarmDrive’s clients include but are not limited to mobile network operators such as Safaricom, commercial banks, micro-finance banks, saccos and cooperatives, non-bank financial service providers such as One Acre Fund, agricultural insurance providers and processors. As the CEO of her venture, Peris spends her time implementing strategies to build a sustainable, transformative business that meets the needs and aspirations of clients and organizing the 1’s and 0’s to achieve this. She is a champion of financial inclusion and youth employment and has been supporting other entities such as The Mastercard Foundation to create inclusive youth engagement strategies for different countries in Africa. Peris has a First Class Honours B.Sc. Computer Science degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She is a 2023 Sloan School of Management MBA candidate.
- Topic:
- Development, Governance, Leadership, and Regionalism
- Political Geography:
- Africa
45. MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s New Models for Education
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The fourth webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, Science and Technology, Infrastructure, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa
46. The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Sahar Aziz: Kleh Visiting Distinguished Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
- Topic:
- Religion, Discrimination, Racism, and Freedom of Religion
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
47. MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s Growth Prospects
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The third webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, Infrastructure, Governance, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa
48. MIT X TAU Series: Africa's Information Technologies
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The second webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, Infrastructure, Governance, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa
49. MIT X TAU Series: Africa’s Innovation in Education
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The first webinar in a seven-part series focused on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa.
- Topic:
- Development, Education, Governance, Innovation, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Africa
50. Starr Forum: The Future of US - China Relations
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Moderator: Taylor Fravel is Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the MIT Security Studies Program (SSP). He studies international relations, with a focus on international security, China, and East Asia. Panelists: Eric Heginbotham is a principal research scientist at MIT’s Center for International Studies (CIS) and SSP. He is a specialist in Asian security issues. Before joining MIT, he was a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where he led research projects on China, Japan, and regional security issues. Ketian Vivian Zhang is an assistant professor of international Security in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She studies rising powers, coercion, economic statecraft, and maritime disputes in international relations and social movements in comparative politics, with a regional focus on China and East Asia. Ali Wyne is a senior analyst with Eurasia Group's Global Macro practice, where he focuses on US-China relations and great-power competition. He is the author of a forthcoming book, America's Great-Power Opportunity: Revitalizing US Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition.
- Topic:
- Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, Hegemony, Strategic Competition, Rivalry, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
51. Starr Forum: Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- A book talk with Spencer Ackerman, national-security correspondent. A union of journalism and intellectual history, Reign of Terror is a pathbreaking and definitive book with the power to transform how America understands its national security policies and their catastrophic impact on its civic life.
- Topic:
- Security, National Security, Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, Surveillance, Civil Rights, and Police State
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
52. Immigrant entrepreneurship in startup cities — what works in which context?
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Migrants are often considered to be ‘natural entrepreneurs’. This notion is based on a presumed inclination to take risks, an openness to new experiences, and a higher willingness to adapt than their local counterparts. Migrants found more businesses relative to the local population in many countries, despite facing additional challenges in the startup process. To support them in overcoming these challenges and to leverage their entrepreneurial potential, more and more organizations create targeted offers for this group of entrepreneurs — particularly in cities with vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. Increasingly, these ‘newcomer entrepreneurs’ find that their particular needs are better recognised and taken into account. Despite this, it is still unclear which interventions actually work for which target group, and in which context. Which role do the different stakeholders and systemic mechanisms in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem play?
- Topic:
- Economics, Entrepreneurship, Business, and Immigrants
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
53. Starr Forum: Autocracy’s Assault on Press Freedom
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Experts discuss the threat to free media in Central and Eastern Europe and what it means for the West
- Topic:
- Media, Journalism, Freedom of Press, and Autocracy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Eastern Europe, and Central Europe
54. Starr Forum: The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: A prologue to WWIII or another frozen conflict?
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Dmitry Gorenburg is a senior research scientist at CNA, where he has worked since 2000. Dr. Gorenburg is an associate at the Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. His research interests include security issues in the former Soviet Union, Russian military reform, Russian foreign policy, and ethnic politics and identity. Olga Oliker is the program director for Europe and Central Asia at the International Crisis Group. Her research interests include foreign and security policies of Russia, Ukraine, and the Central Asian and Caucasian successor states to the Soviet Union, domestic politics in these countries, US policy towards the region, and nuclear weapon strategy and arms control. She received her PhD from the MIT Department of Political Science. Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. His research interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. Carol Saivetz is a senior advisor in the MIT Security Studies Program. She is a research associate at Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Dr Saivetz is the author and contributing co-editor of books and articles on Soviet and now Russian foreign policy issues, including an assessment of the “reset,” Russian policies toward the other Soviet successor states, and current US-Russian relations. Elizabeth Wood is professor of history at MIT. She is the author most recently of Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine (Woodrow Wilson Center and Columbia University Press, 2016). She is co-director of the MIT Russia Program, coordinator of Russian studies, and adviser to the Russian Language Program.
- Topic:
- Security, Defense Policy, War, Military Strategy, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
55. Japan on the Front Line
- Author:
- Noah Sneider, Philip Lipscy, and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- From population aging, to national security threats, to climate change and natural disasters, Japan is at the forefront of challenges that will soon confront many societies. What can the world learn from Japan’s experience? Noah Sneider and Phillip Lipscy will offer their perspectives on Japan as a “harbinger state,” a country that experiences many challenges before other countries in the international system. This event is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Study Center.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, National Security, Natural Disasters, and Aging
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
56. Cross-Strait and U.S.-Taiwan Relations from the Kuomintang Point of View
- Author:
- Alexander Huang, Eric Huang, Johnny Chiang, Thomas J. Christensen, and Andrew Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Speaker Bios: Alexander Huang is the Associate Professor of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Tamkang University, the Chairman & CEO of the Council on Strategic & Wargaming Studies, and Special Advisor to the Chairman & Director of International Affairs at Kuomintang (KMT). Dr. Huang received his BA in Political Science at Soochow University in 1982, earned a MA from the Institute of Strategic Studies at Tamkang University 1984 and a MSFS from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1988. In 1994, Dr. Huang received a PhD in Political Science from George Washington University. Eric Yu-Chua Huang is the KMT’s Representative in Washington D.C., and an entrepreneur. Mr. Huang previously served as the party's spokesperson and deputy director of international affairs, a lecturer of International affairs at Tamkang University, and non-residential research fellow at National Policy Foundation. Mr. Huang joined the KMT party headquarters in 2014 after which he served as the international spokesperson for the KMT’s presidential candidate during Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election campaign. Previously, Mr. Huang worked as legislative aide for a KMT legislator representing a constituency in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei City, where his portfolio included national security and foreign relations, as well as constituent services and youth organizing. Mr. Huang graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master’s degree in International Relations; he earned his Bachelor’s degree at the University of Virginia majoring in International Relations; in 2018 he was a Visiting Scholar at Fudan University. Johnny C. Chiang was elected the chairman of the KMT to rejuvenate the party in 2020. The KMT ruled Taiwan from 1949 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2016, and is now the main opposition in Taiwan. During August 2018-July 2019, Dr. Chiang was the convener (caucus whip) of KMT Party Caucus in Legislative Yuan. From August in 2016 to January in 2017, he took charge of the secretary of KMT party Caucus in Legislative Yuan. In 2016, he held the post of the convener in Foreign and National Defense Committee; Previously, in 2013 he ever served as the convener in Internal Administration Affair Committee. Besides, as to international inter- parliamentary exchanging activities, he currently serves as the chairmen of R.O.C(Taiwan)-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association. He is also the chairman of R.O.C(Taiwan)-Singapore Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association. Dr. Chiang received his Ph. D. in International Studies from the University of South Carolina and his master degree of public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. He has previously served as Minister of Government Information Office (GIO) as well as Government Spokesman of Executive Yuan, ROC (2010- 2011); Deputy Executive Director of Chinese Taipei APEC Study Center (2009-2010); Director of International Affairs Department, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research(2005-2010); Deputy Secretary-General, Chinese Taipei National Committee of Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) (2005-2010); Associate professor, department of political science at the Soochow University in Taipei (2003-2010). In 2021, Dr. Johnny Chiang was named by Time magazine to be one of the "100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future." In 2006, Dr. Chiang was selected as the Top 10 rising stars in Taiwan. His research interests widely cover such areas as international political economy, international organizations (especially APEC and WTO), Asia- Pacific studies, cross-Strait relations, globalization and international relations theory. This event is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the China and the World Program.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- China, Taiwan, Asia, and United States of America
57. One Year after the Myanmar Coup
- Author:
- Esther Ze Bamvo, James C. Scott, David Thang Moe, and Lien-Hang T. Nguyen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Myanmar has been a military country since 1962, but the recent military coup deserves international attention. Since the junta seized power by removing the democratically elected government on February 1, 2021, citizens from all walks of life have risen up in strong resistance to the coup. Religion and ethnicity have played a dividing and exclusionary role in Burmese politics, resulting most tragically in the persecution of the Rohingya. However, the urgent need for solidarity of an anti-coup movement led by youth from “Generation Z” has brought together protesters from different religions and ethnicities. Urban civilians, mostly from ethnic majorities, and ethnic minorities from small towns and the most remote hill villages have bridged their religious and ethnic divides to resist the coup for the common goal of federal democracy. Within one year, military junta has killed almost 1,500, detained almost 12,000, and has displaced millions of civilians. Despite the risks, civilians continue to resist the new order through various everyday and creative forms of movement. This event, marking the anniversary of the coup, will recognize Myanmar’s democratic movement, remember fallen heroes, and reflect on the origins and ongoing movements of interreligious and interethnic resistance to the coup. Three panelists, including a person who co-led the first largest anti-coup protest movement on the frontline, will share their expertise on the origins, stories, strategies, and challenges of resistance to the coup. They will also suggest ways that the international community can support Myanmar’s ongoing democratic movement. This event is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the New York Southeast Asia Network (NYSEAN).
- Topic:
- Democracy, Protests, Coup, Resistance, and Military
- Political Geography:
- Southeast Asia and Myanmar
58. The Wuhan Lockdown
- Author:
- Guobin Yang and Qin Gao
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In this book talk, the author tells the dramatic story of the Wuhan lockdown in the voices of the city’s own people. Using a vast archive of more than 6,000 diaries, the sociologist Guobin Yang vividly depicts how the city coped during the crisis. He analyzes how the state managed—or mismanaged—the lockdown and explores how Wuhan’s residents responded by taking on increasingly active roles. Yang demonstrates that citizen engagement—whether public action or the civic inaction of staying at home—was essential in the effort to fight the pandemic. The book features compelling stories of citizens and civic groups in their struggle against COVID-19: physicians, patients, volunteers, government officials, feminist organizers, social media commentators, and even aunties loudly swearing at party officials. These snapshots from the lockdown capture China at a critical moment, revealing the intricacies of politics, citizenship, morality, community, and digital technology. This event is part of the 2021-2022 lecture series on “COVID-19 Impacts and Responses in China and Beyond” and is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the China Center for Social Policy.
- Topic:
- Crisis Management, Pandemic, Domestic Policy, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
59. Rise and Fall of Technology in Chinese History
- Author:
- Yasheng Huang and Madeleine Zelin
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Joseph Needham famously asked why China did not have its own Industrial Revolution. Using a newly constructed database, Yasheng Huang will show that China’s technological collapse happened much earlier than previously thought and the collapse coincided closely with the rise of autocracy and ideological homogeneity. Here is an excerpt from his book: My book has five parts, and the content is roughly split between history and the PRC. After this chapter, the three chapters in Part I deal with the E component of the EAST formulation. Two chapters are devoted to the keju exam; the other chapter is devoted to a panoply of tools employed by the CCP to achieve homogeneity. The two chapters in Part 2 deal with autocracy and the evolution of autocracy during the imperial and Communist eras. Part 3 analyzes the stability of regimes during the two eras. Part 4 tackles technology. One chapter traces the history of the rise and fall of Chinese inventiveness during the dynastic era; the other chapter delves into the present time and tells the story of how the CCP utilizes its scale advantage in combination with importation of scope functions to advance its science and technology. AI, biotechnology, and publication of scientific papers feature empirically in my telling of this story. Part 5 opens with a discussion of why China has failed to converge with the rest of East Asia by moving down a path of scope expansions. The chapter revisits a major topic in history—why Japan responded to the West effectively through the Meiji Reformation, whereas China descended into civil conflicts and chaos under similar pressures. I will also come back to a topic I initiated earlier in this chapter—the scale and scope contrasts between China and India. The final chapter is an assessment of China on a number of issues.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, History, and Ideology
- Political Geography:
- China
60. Chinese Trust in Government: A Response Pattern Approach
- Author:
- Cary Wu and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Chinese citizens have high trust in their government is well documented. Recent data show that this remains true during the COVID-19 crisis. Nonetheless, a long-standing debate is whether Chinese trust in government is genuine or simply a reflection of political fear. To offer further insights, in this article I adopt a response pattern approach that shifts the focus from how much people trust (the level of trust) to how people trust (the pattern of trust). Analyzing data from multiple sources, I consider the homogeneity and heterogeneity in how political trust is expressed among diverse populations (e.g., children vs adults) and in different situations (e.g., taped vs. not taped). I identify ten specific patterns that consistently suggest Chinese trust in government may not be simply reduced to a misrepresentation out of political fear. This study illustrates that examining the often-overlooked patterns of how people express their attitudes within different segments of the population and in different contexts provides a means to test whether the expressed attitudes are fake or genuine. This event is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the China Center for Social Policy.
- Topic:
- Government, Public Opinion, Citizenship, COVID-19, and Trust
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
61. The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanization of Rural China
- Author:
- Weiping Wu, Xiaobo Lü, Nick R. Smith, Wing-Shing Tang, Deborah Davis, and Andrew Kipnis
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, China has dramatically expanded its urbanization processes in an effort to reduce the inequalities between urban and rural areas. New development programs, including “urban-rural coordination”, “new-type urbanization”, and, most recently, “rural revitalization”, are restructuring China’s urban–rural relations and imposing novel forms of state-led urbanization onto the countryside. Rural simulacra, such as high-rise new towns, ecological protection zones, historical tourism sites, and industrialized farms, increasingly reflect planners' and policy-makers' urban imaginations of what the rural should be and have more to do with serving urban consumers than ensuring rural welfare. The result is a fundamental rewriting of the nation’s social contract, as villages that once organized rural life and guaranteed rural livelihoods are replaced by an increasingly urbanized landscape dominated by state institutions. Smith’s recently published book, The End of the Village: Planning the Urbanization of Rural China, explores the contested implementation of this radical new approach to urbanization in the municipality of Chongqing. Drawing on the book’s findings, this interdisciplinary panel brings together leading scholars of Chinese urbanization to discuss the ongoing transformation of China’s urban–rural relations. This event is cosponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia GSAPP, and Columbia SIPA.
- Topic:
- Urbanization, Inequality, and Rural
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
62. Twelfth Annual N.T Wang Distinguished Lecture: China is Not a Donor
- Author:
- Deborah Bräutigam and Thomas J. Christensen
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The nature of Chinese lending in risky countries remains poorly understood. Drawing on data on Chinese loans, creditors and contractors, and case studies of Chinese lending in Zambia, Kenya, Montenegro and Sri Lanka, this talk illustrates three areas in which misunderstandings create challenges. First, China is often portrayed as a monolithic, highly coordinated actor. Our research suggests instead that project finance from China can be highly fragmented, uncoordinated, and even chaotic. A second common fallacy is to assume all Chinese funding is “foreign aid” and then compare its terms or impact with funding offered by the World Bank, or bilateral donors. Our research suggests that Chinese foreign aid is a tiny fraction of all Chinese lending; the appropriate “apples to apples” comparisons will often be export credit agencies, private commercial banks, commodity traders, and even Eurobonds. Finally, some journalists, pundits and policymakers have promoted the idea that Chinese banks deliberately lend to risky countries to secure strategic assets. We question the evidence for “debt trap diplomacy” and suggest instead that China Eximbank suffers from “Tazara Syndrome” – a megaproject bias that can be traced back to the iconic African railway of the 1970s. This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business, and cosponsored by the China and the World Program at Columbia University.
- Topic:
- Debt, Diplomacy, Foreign Aid, Donors, and Loans
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
63. Russia in the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives from China, Russia, and the United States
- Author:
- Gaye Christoffersen, Ying Liu, Artyom Lukin, Elena Feditchkina Tracy, and Elizabeth Wishnick
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Russia’s role in the Indo-Pacific is an understudied topic—while much of the discussion of Russia in Asia typically focuses on its response to geopolitical rivalries, the volume addresses ideational factors in Russia’s relations with regional and global powers, the domestic drivers of Russia’s Asia-Pacific policy, as well as the complex iteration of regional identities in Asia-Pacific Russia and in the Sino-Russian partnership. Contributors to this volume are based across Russia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the USA, drawing on a range of multinational perspectives and theoretical approaches. Panelists at this event will present views from Beijing, Vladivostok, and the United States.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, United States of America, and Indo-Pacific
64. How Transnational Education Transforms Privilege
- Author:
- Yingyi Ma and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This study examines two cohorts of Chinese international students studying in the U.S. whose privilege is challenged and sometimes upended before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research questions the dominant framing of privilege centering on the notion of ease, as informed by the western scholarship on elite education. Drawing from the power structure of international education and rising geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, this study concludes that transnational education infuses much anxiety and fragility into the lived experiences of international students, who have experienced the status loss from the privileged majority to the marginalized minority. COVID had exacerbated this loss. This study contributes to the scholarship on elites by interrogating the western-centric notion of privilege. This event is part of the 2021-2022 lecture series on “COVID-19 Impacts and Responses in China and Beyond” and is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by Columbia's China Center for Social Policy.
- Topic:
- Education, Geopolitics, Students, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China and United States of America
65. Prospects for Japan's National Security Policy in 2022 and the US-Japan Alliance
- Author:
- Yuki Tatsumi and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The US and Japan convened the Security Consultative Committee (more commonly known as "2 plus 2") on January 6. The SCC Joint Statement that was released afterwards set goals for the Alliance that were most ambitious in recent years. How would it affect Japan as it enters the period of revising its three key national security documents? What are the challenges for Tokyo as it moves forward, and for the Alliance writ large?
- Topic:
- National Security, Bilateral Relations, and Alliance
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Asia, and United States of America
66. Family and Inequality: “Diverging Destinies” in Japan
- Author:
- James M. Raymo and Daniel Smith
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- “Diverging destinies” is a term used by family demographers and sociologists to describe growing socioeconomic differentials in family behavior and their implications. Drawing primarily on evidence from the U.S., research on diverging destinies has demonstrated that those at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum are increasingly engaging in family behaviors that are associated with reduction in the resources available to their children (e.g., nonmarital childbearing) while those at the upper end of the spectrum are engaging in family behaviors associated with increased resources (e.g., stable marriage). This pattern of family bifurcation has potentially important implications for the reinforcement of inequality both within and across generations. Despite tremendous interest in both family change and growing socioeconomic inequality in Japan, social scientific efforts to link these trends are limited. In this talk, Professor James Raymo will summarize the results of several recent papers (both published and in progress) on socioeconomic differences in family demographic behavior and children’s well-being in Japan. In general, the findings of these studies show patterns of family bifurcation consistent with predictions of the diverging destinies framework, but of a magnitude that is less pronounced than observed in the U.S. Among the most pronounced differences in Japan are a strong negative educational gradient in divorce and substantial differences in the well-being of children in single-mother and two-parent families. In thinking about the relevance of diverging destinies in Japan, he stresses the theoretical and empirical value of considering intergenerational family relationships, gender inequality, and the changing economic environment.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Inequality, Family, and Socioeconomics
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
67. Photo Poetics: Chinese Lyricism and Modern Media Culture
- Author:
- Shengqing Wu, Ying Qian, and Alexander Alberro
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Chinese poetry has a long history of interaction with the visual arts. Classical aesthetic thought held that painting, calligraphy, and poetry were cross-fertilizing and mutually enriching. What happened when the Chinese poetic tradition encountered photography, a transformative technology and presumably realistic medium that reshaped seeing and representing the world? This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and the Center for Comparative Media, all at Columbia University.
- Topic:
- Arts, Culture, Media, and Buddhism
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
68. The Buddhist Dream Tale: Past and Present
- Author:
- Francisca Cho and Seong Uk Kim
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Kim Manjung's Kuunmong, or Dream of the Nine Clouds, was written by a scholar-official and he turned to the Buddhist trope that "life is nothing but a dream" in order to express his doubts and disappointment about the Confucian social structure in which he lived. The speaker argues that the dream tale turns the act of fiction writing into a Buddhist philosophical exercise, and she will draw out this argument by considering how the medium of fiction functions in a ritual way. In this vein, she brings the dream tale into the present by considering the experience of cinema as an analogue. This event is cosponsored by the Center for Korean Research and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
- Topic:
- Religion, Arts, Culture, and Literature
- Political Geography:
- Asia
69. We Uyghurs Have No Say: A Roundtable on the Writings of Ilham Tohti
- Author:
- Rune Steenberg, Abdürreşit Celil Karluk, and David Brophy
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Prior to his arrest and sentencing in 2014, economist Ilham Tohti was one of China’s leading experts on contemporary Xinjiang. His academic work and online writings voiced a rare perspective – that of an Uyghur intellectual working within the Chinese system - on the increasingly marginal and precarious position of his Uyghur community in modern China. Ultimately, this critique proved too controversial for the party, and he is now serving a life sentence in prison for “separatism.” We Uyghurs Have No Say (Verso 2022) is a collection of Ilham Tohti’s articles and interviews, translated from Chinese into English, which chart his scholarly interventions from 2007 until his silencing. To mark its publication, this event will assemble a panel of sociologists and anthropologists of Xinjiang – some of whom studied under Ilham in Beijing – to reflect on these writings and the wider significance of Ilham’s work for our understanding of social and political developments in Xinjiang.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Prisons/Penal Systems, Political Prisoners, and Uyghurs
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Xinjiang
70. Long Odds Struggles in East and Southeast Asia, the 1910-1920s and 2010-2020s
- Author:
- Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Manan Ahmed, Lien-Hang Nguyen, and Jeffrey Ngo
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- During the first decades of the last century, activists with ties to various parts of Asia embraced and then discarded different ideologies and found varying ways to connect with one another, sometimes in exile. What linked them were some shared grievances, such as a dislike of the way their community was being bullied or controlled by people in a distant capital and of the limits on their freedom to speak out on issues that concerned them and organize to bring about change. We have been seeing something similar in some ways but different in others take place now, as activists in and exiles from Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma take part in what is sometimes called "Milk Tea Alliance" struggles. There are obvious contrasts: importance of online connections now is novel; the Chinese state was a weak force a century ago, but is a strong one today; Vietnamese activists were a more central part of the earlier story than the current one; ties between South Asian and East Asian exiles were more notable a century ago; and there is no contemporary counterpart to the Comintern on the scene connecting radicals. And yet, this talk will argue, there are important echoes of the earlier period to be heard today, as well as much to learn about how different struggles in East and Southeast Asia influenced one another at other points in time, such as the 1980s. This talk will focus on Chinese activists of the early 1900s and Hong Kong ones now but place both groups in comparative and transnational perspectives, will move between the two eras with an eye toward reoccurrences, ruptures, and reversals.
- Topic:
- Protests, Ideology, and Activism
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, Burma, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong
71. A conversation with Loden Sherab Dagyab Rinpoche
- Author:
- Loden Sherab Dagyab Rinpoche, Pema Bhum, and Riga Shakya
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event was co-hosted by the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University and The Latse Project, with funding and administrative support from the Weatherhead East Asian Institute. Dagyab Rinpoche, one of the few living Tibetan witnesses of the 1950 advance of the People's Liberation Army into Chamdo, was just nine years old when Chinese Communist authorities urged him to participate as one of the high-ranking dignitaries (zhuren) for their first conference in the region. He then went on to study at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Lhasa until his escape to India in 1959. In this talk, Rinpoche describes his experience of this important historical juncture.
- Topic:
- Religion, History, and Memory
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Tibet
72. China's Colonial Boarding Schools in Tibet
- Author:
- Lhadon Tethong, Freya Putt, Jia Luo, Tenzin Dorjee, and Andy Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Chinese government policies are forcing three out of every four Tibetan students into a vast network of colonial boarding schools, separating children as young as four from their parents. According to a recent report by Tibet Action Institute, the schools are a cornerstone of Xi Jinping’s campaign to supplant Tibetan identity with a homogenous Chinese identity in order to neutralize potential resistance to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. The report, “Separated From Their Families, Hidden From the World: China’s Vast System of Colonial Boarding Schools Inside Tibet,” finds that an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 Tibetan students aged six to 18, as well as an unknown number of four and five-year olds, are in these state-run schools. This panel will discuss how the schools function as sites for remolding children into Chinese nationals loyal to the CCP.
- Topic:
- Education, Culture, Children, Colonialism, and Boarding Schools
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Tibet
73. Financial Cold War – A Book Talk
- Author:
- James Fok and Shang-Jin Wei
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- James Fok will give a talk regarding the publication of his recent book, Financial Cold War, where he addresses internationalizing China’s capital markets: the geopolitical realities; China’s financial challenges: implications for the global financial sector; China-US geopolitical tensions: challenges for international financial institutions; and implications and opportunities for US-China relations.
- Topic:
- Bilateral Relations, Geopolitics, Finance, and Capital
- Political Geography:
- China and United States of America
74. Inflamed Publics: Social Media, Violence, and Resistance Panel 1
- Author:
- Wanning Sun, Radhika Gajjala, Daniel Mann, and Jinsook Kim
- Publication Date:
- 04-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- From online troll armies to digital warriors, camouflage to infiltration, the techniques and affects of war pervade global digital cultures today via social media platforms such as Whatsapp, WeChat, Twitter, and TikTok. As trending hashtags on Twitter become a statistical measure of the ebbs and flows of mass political sentiment, this symposium seeks to understand the relation between everyday digital media technologies, image-making practices, and violence in the 21st century. Over 3 consecutive days we will meet with film and media scholars, digital activists, ethnographers, and communications theorists to initiate a collaborative exploration of research methods to address the role of social media today with an eye to questions of aesthetics, sentiment, and sensory experience. This event focuses on three geographical locations: China, India and Palestine/Israel, based on the three co-organizers' areas of research. Speakers are scholars working on media cultures in one of the above regions. This event is sponsored by the Humanities War and Peace Initiative, Columbia University and co-sponsored by the Center for Comparative Media, South Asia Institute and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology, Social Media, Violence, and Resistance
- Political Geography:
- China, Middle East, India, Israel, Asia, and Palestine
75. Starr Forum: #ViralPotentials: How South Asian Women Use TikTok
- Publication Date:
- 06-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Working class women are using TikTok to express themselves. The app is also an avenue for fun or financial gain. Women across the region are using TikTok for activism, teaching, and learning. On this panel, academics, journalists, and activists from South Asia discuss how women have expanded their possibilities using TikTok, as well as the limitations the app poses.
- Topic:
- Mass Media, Social Media, TikTok, and Activism
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and Asia
76. Starr Forum: Speaking Truth to a New Power: Perspectives on Free Press and Democracy in South Africa
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What is the state of democracy and the free press in South Africa?
- Topic:
- Mass Media, Democracy, Media, and Freedom of Press
- Political Geography:
- Africa and South Africa
77. tarr Forum: An Update on Russia's War Against Ukraine
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What is the status of Russia's invasion of Ukraine?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Conflict, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
78. Starr Forum: Xi Jinping's Third Term: Challenges for the United States
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- What are the implications of Xi Jinping's third term on US-China relations?
- Topic:
- Hegemony, Strategic Competition, Rivalry, and Competition
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
79. Starr Forum: Energy as a Weapon of War: Russia, Ukraine and Europe in Challenging Times
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- How has Russia weaponized energy in this war? What have been the effects? How have Europeans responded to this weaponization of energy and what may be their responses this winter?
- Topic:
- Defense Policy, Energy Policy, Military Strategy, European Union, Strategic Interests, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Ukraine
80. Lecture: The Evolution of the Civic Space in Modern African Democracy
- Author:
- Idayat Hassan and Kwame Karikari
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Ghana Center for Democratic Development
- Abstract:
- Over the last decade, the world has witnessed a decline in democracy and the closing of civic spaces – the bedrock of democratic society through which citizens and civil society organizations are able to organize, participate and communicate without hindrance. These two phenomena have dominated conversations on various platforms globally and have intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Democratic backsliding and shrinking civic space in our part of the world represent a major setback for the region and its people. This lecture seeks to deliberate on these evolving issues and offer practical recommendations aimed at influencing urgent interventions that will help halt democratic backsliding and the closing of democratic civic spaces.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Governance, Democracy, COVID-19, and Democratic Backsliding
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Ghana
81. European Islamophobia
- Author:
- Farid Hafez
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Islamophobia is on the rise at an alarming speed in Europe, a continent with tens of millions of Muslim citizens.
- Topic:
- Minorities, Discrimination, and Islamophobia
- Political Geography:
- Europe
82. Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law
- Author:
- Natsu Saito Taylor
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Professor Natsu Saito Taylor builds on the premise that racialized disparities continue to persist in the United States and are unlikely to be effectively alleviated by the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Her book talk provides a functional analysis linking disparate forms of oppression and makes the case that structural racism will be more effectively dismantled by contesting the ongoing settler colonization of these lands and supporting the right of all peoples to self-determination.
- Topic:
- Settler Colonialism, Self-Determination, Equal Protection, and Structural Racism
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
83. Consistent Partiality: US Foreign Policy on Palestine-Israel
- Author:
- Sarah Whitson and Peter Beinart
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- Although the Biden administration talks about supporting democracy and human rights, it has maintained unconditional US support for Israel even as human rights organizations label it an apartheid state. What are the political and ideological foundations of America’s hostility to Palestinian freedom? And what would it take to change them? Does the US’s unconditional support for Israel serve America’s national interests? Join the Center for Security, Race and Rights as we address these questions with two internationally known experts.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Apartheid, Human Rights, Politics, Democracy, Ideology, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America
84. The War Economy of the Fragmented Healthcare System in Syria
- Author:
- Omar Dewachi, Duncan McLean, and Aula Abbara
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- This devastating conflict that has had a profound impact in Syria, the region and beyond, caused immense suffering. At least 400,000 Syrians have lost their lives. More than 6 million refugees, out of a pre-war population of 22 million, have fled the country and 6.7 million are internally displaced. Over 13 million people continue to need assistance, and yet Syria seems to have dropped off the radar. In this panel discussion, hosted by the Centre for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) at Rutgers University, experts with in-depth knowledge of Syria and the region will examine some of the challenges humanitarian organisations faced as consequence of the war in Syria. Panellists will examine the relationship between health-care provision on the one hand, and the state’s claim to sovereignty and legitimacy on the other, and how the humanitarian response became quickly entangled into the polarized sides of the Syria war. They will look at how the protracted conflict in Syria has fragmented the country’s health system. They will also describe how, in the absence of a meaningful foreign policy, aid delivery came to fuel Syria’s war economy raising troubling questions as to the limits humanitarian organizations are prepared to accept when operating in a broader system of corruption, predation and denial of access. Guest speakers all contributed separate chapters to the book on Syria edited by MSF “Everybody’s war: politics of aid in the Syria crisis”
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Economy, Syrian War, Humanitarian Organizations, and Healthcare System
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Syria
85. Power and Restraint in China's Rise
- Author:
- Chin-Hao Huang and Nick R. Smith
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Power and Restraint in China’s Rise Why and when does China exercise restraint—and how does this aspect of Chinese statecraft challenge the conventional narrative about rising powers’ behavior? In his recently published book, Power and Restraint in China’s Rise (Columbia University Press 2022), Chin-Hao Huang argues that China’s aspirations for legitimacy and acceptance provide a key rationale for refraining from coercive measures. Offering new insights into the causes and consequences of change in recent Chinese foreign policy, the findings show why paying attention to the targets of Chinese power matters and what the future of engagement with China might look like.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Power Politics, Political Science, Engagement, and Power
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
86. Taiwan Update: Local Elections and Cross-Strait Relations
- Author:
- Hungdah Su Dean, Yeong-Kang Chen, Min-Hua Huang, Eric Yu, Yeh-Chung Lu, Andrew Nathan, and Thomas J. Christensen
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A high-level academic delegation will update our audience on current political events in Taiwan and developments in cross-strait relations.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Elections, and Regional Politics
- Political Geography:
- China, Taiwan, and Asia
87. From Development to Democracy: The Transformations of Modern Asia
- Author:
- Dan Slater and Daniel M. Smith
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Over the past century, Asia has been transformed by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization—a spectacular record of development that has turned one of the world’s poorest regions into one of its richest. Yet Asia’s record of democratization has been much more uneven, despite the global correlation between development and democracy. Why have some Asian countries become more democratic as they have grown richer, while others—most notably China—haven’t? Slater and Wong demonstrate that Asia defies the conventional expectation that authoritarian regimes concede democratization only as a last resort, during times of weakness. Instead, Asian dictators have pursued democratic reforms as a proactive strategy to revitalize their power from a position of strength. Of central importance is whether authoritarians are confident of victory and stability. In Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan these factors fostered democracy through strength, while democratic experiments in Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar were less successful and more reversible. At the same time, resistance to democratic reforms has proven intractable in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Reconsidering China’s 1989 crackdown, Slater and Wong argue that it was the action of a regime too weak to concede, not too strong to fail, and they explain why China can allow democracy without inviting instability. The result is a comprehensive regional history that offers important new insights about when and how democratic transitions happen—and what the future of Asia might be.
- Topic:
- Development, Authoritarianism, Democracy, Economic Growth, and Industrialization
- Political Geography:
- Asia
88. A Pilgrim’s Diary: Khatag Dzamyag’s nyindep and Tibetan diary-keeping practices
- Author:
- Lucia Galli and Gray Tuttle
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This presentation offers an overview of diary-keeping practices in the Tibetan literary and historical milieus by taking as a case study the personal account of a 20th-century Eastern Tibetan trader named Khatag Dzamyag (Kha stag ’Dzam yag, 1896-1961). Belonging to the diaristic genre of nyinto (nyin tho)/nyindep (nyin deb), the work lends itself to multiple approaches. Recent studies in the literary field have already marked the existence of a hybrid form of (auto)biographical narratives, in which the factual and the fictional merge, mix, and intertwine. Facts are constantly subject to manipulation through processes of narrativization, selection, expansion, and omission that all together contribute to the coming into play of fiction. By taking life stories as a metaphor for the phenomena of human life, mind, and action, (auto)biographical narratives thus become a means of “doing living”, i.e. a way to understand the meaning of life while acting, thinking, and living it. Taking a narratological approach, Dr. Galli will reflect upon the dual structural core of Dzamyag’s autobiographical first-person pronoun – as self that is both “narrating” and “narrated”, extending the discussion to the way in which traditional structures and institutions of self-representation are actively engaged and reinterpreted throughout the nyindep.
- Topic:
- Religion, History, and Narrative
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Tibet
89. Toward an Intellectual History of Vietnam - A Book Talk
- Author:
- Martina Nguyen, Claire Edington, Duy Lap Nguyen, Yen Vu, and Lien-Hang Nguyen
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This event will be a book talk of Martina Nguyen’s latest book On Our Own Strength. The questions that orient the event are: What does a Vietnamese intellectual history look like? How does it contribute or challenge existing understandings of intellectual history, in both local and global senses? While these two events are distinct, they work toward establishing a subdiscipline that has yet to be defined in Vietnam Studies. Intellectual history, which comes from a European tradition, has predominantly focused on ideas in relation to philosophy, reserved for erudites distanced from the masses. Only more recently has ‘global intellectual history’ emerged to valorize different sources of epistemological contribution around the world, to encourage new perspectives and connections. In the case of Vietnam, so much of Vietnamese intellectual activity (at least in the modern context) is inextricable to nationalism, cultural exchange, societal transformations. At the core of major on-the-ground transitions is in fact a negotiation and discussion of ideas both from within and without. If we return to this fundamental understanding of intellectual history, as a transformation of ideas, then we are able to see how Vietnam’s intellectual activity offers an understanding of intellectual history that is integral to the making and shaping of social and political history. Such an event is important to continue to place Columbia as a burgeoning center for Vietnam Studies. The presentation of Martina Nguyen’s book is a clear example of how intellectual activity permeates social and political movements, and how intellectuals themselves were the main actors for radical political parties. The talk will be followed by short comments by the guests, informed by their own work on various ideas and their transformations, including the epistemology of medicine, and the importation of continental philosophy in Vietnam.
- Topic:
- Intellectual History, Philosophy, Political Movements, and Medicine
- Political Geography:
- Asia and Vietnam
90. Studying Maltreatment Through Polyvictimization: Evidence from the Salar Ethnic Group in Qinghai
- Author:
- Clifton R. Emery and Qin Gao
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- This lecture uses in-depth river of life oral history data collected from 200 Salar mothers in Qinghai, China to study the invasiveness, exploitativeness, and severity of victimization among children. This event is part of the 2022-2023 lecture series on “Urbanization, Well-being, and Public Policy: China from Comparative Perspectives” and is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by Columbia's China Center for Social Policy and the Columbia Global Centers | Beijing.
- Topic:
- Minorities, Ethnicity, Oral History, Victimization, and Qinghai
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
91. Migrant Worker Rights in Singapore: Advocacy, Legal Frameworks and Prospects for Change
- Author:
- Debbie Fordyce and Laavanya Kathiravelu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Debbie Fordyce, President of Transient Workers Council Too, and Laavanya Kathiravelu, Associate professor at Nanyang Technological University, will discuss their advocacy and research on migrant worker issues in Singapore. COVID-19 highlighted some of the structural problems faced by the large population of migrant workers in Singapore. Systemic problems include high recruitment costs, restricted job mobility, employer’s right to terminate the worker at will, and weak wage protection. Our speakers will address these issues and what might be done to protect the rights and needs of migrant workers in Singapore.
- Topic:
- Advocacy, COVID-19, Migrant Workers, and Migrants
- Political Geography:
- Singapore and Southeast Asia
92. Organized Shinto’s Efforts to Restore the Imperial Rescript on Education in Postwar Japan
- Author:
- Hirokazu Yoshie and Paul Kreitman
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- In the 1960s, the Association for Shinto Shrines—comprising 98% of the shrines nationwide—began running a decade-old campaign to reinstate a prewar symbol of emperor-centered nationalism, i.e., the Imperial Rescript on Education (kyōiku chokugo). Member priests petitioned prime ministers and other LDP politicians, published manuals for adults and picture books for children, and held summer camps for young students. These efforts were based on a modern translation into which the organization had rendered from the originally archaic rescript. Puzzlingly, this modern paraphrase completely concealed the authorship and centrality of the Meiji emperor, leaving only generic words of patriotism, which apparently defeats the purpose of the restorationism. His presentation makes sense of the campaign by analyzing organized Shinto’s discourse with it and considering its broader historical context. The narrative starts from the US occupation era (1945-1952), when the official invalidation of the rescript by Americans left conservative Japanese aggrieved. After failed attempts to revise the new constitution (1952-1964), the restoration movement gathered momentum amid left-leaning campus activism in around 1970. Convinced that it was a result of America’s ideological colonization, the Shinto organization argued that the restoration would serve to overcome that negative influence. But they tried to do so without disrupting popular sovereignty of postwar Japan, which required dilution of the text’s politically incorrect elements. The talk ends by suggesting the significance of looking at prewar legacies in our understanding of the role of the monarchy in postwar Japan.
- Topic:
- Education, Religion, History, and Shintoism
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
93. The Urbanization of People- The Politics of Development in the Chinese City
- Author:
- Eli Friedman and Yao Lu
- Publication Date:
- 12-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- The Urbanization of People (May 2022, Columbia University Press) reveals how cities in China have granted public goods to the privileged while condemning poor and working-class migrants to insecurity, constant mobility, and degraded educational opportunities. Using the school as a lens on urban life, Eli Friedman investigates how the state manages flows of people into the city. He demonstrates that urban governments are providing quality public education to those who need it least: school admissions for nonlocals heavily favor families with high levels of economic and cultural capital. Those deemed not useful are left to enroll their children in precarious resource-starved private schools that sometimes are subjected to forced demolition. Over time, these populations are shunted away to smaller locales with inferior public services. Based on extensive ethnographic research and hundreds of in-depth interviews, this interdisciplinary book details the policy framework that produces unequal outcomes as well as providing a fine-grained account of the life experiences of people drawn into the cities as workers but excluded as full citizens.
- Topic:
- Development, Politics, Urbanization, and Cities
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
94. On Dangerous Ground: America’s Century in the South China Sea
- Author:
- Gregory Poling, Anne Marie Murphy, Andrew J. Nathan, and Thomas J. Christensen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- A robust yet accessible history of US involvement in the world's most dangerous waterway, and a guide for what to do about it. Lamentations that the United States is "losing" the South China Sea to China are now common. China has rapidly militarized islands and reefs, projects power across the disputed waterway, and freely harasses US allies and partners. The US has been unable to halt these processes or convince Beijing to respect the rights of smaller neighbors. But what exactly would "losing" mean? In On Dangerous Ground, Gregory B. Poling evaluates US interests in the world's most complex and dangerous maritime disputes by examining more than a century of American involvement in the South China Sea. He focuses on how the disputes there intersected and eventually intertwined with the longstanding US commitment to freedom of the seas and its evolving alliance network in Asia. He shows that these abiding national interests—defense of maritime rights and commitment to allies, particularly the Philippines—have repeatedly pulled US attention to the South China Sea. Understanding how and why is critical if the US and its allies hope to chart a course through the increasingly fraught disputes, while facing a more assertive, more capable, and far less compromising China. With an emphasis on decisions made not just in Washington and Beijing, but also in Manila and other Southeast Asian capitals, On Dangerous Ground seeks to correct the record and balance the China-centric narrative that has come to dominate the issue. It not only provides the most comprehensive account yet of America's history in the South China Sea, but it also demonstrates how that history should inform US national security policy in one of the most important waterways in the world.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, National Security, Territorial Disputes, and Maritime
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, United States of America, and South China Sea
95. Assessing the Chinese Communist Party 20th Party Congress
- Author:
- Thomas J. Christensen, Shang-Jin Wei, Junyang Jiang, Xiaobo Lü, Sun Zhe, and Andrew J. Nathan
- Publication Date:
- 11-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Assessing the political and foreign policy implications of whatever happens at the 20th Party Congress, presumably including Xi Jinping’s election to a third term as party General Secretary.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Politics, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
96. Religion and Politics in Japan after the Abe Assassination
- Author:
- Levi McLaughlin and Benjamin E. Goldsmith
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- Turmoil following the shocking murder of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō on July 8, 2022 by a gunman who bore a grudge against the Unification Church (UC) has reinforced the fact that we must attend to religion in order to understand politics in Japan. In this talk, Levi McLaughlin (North Carolina State University) will contextualize revelations about the UC and its political connections as he surveys how religions and religion-adjacent activists in Japan exert a decisive impact on vote-gathering, policymaking, and party politics. McLaughlin will draw on his ethnographic and historical research to provide an overview of Shinto-affiliated nationalists (including the lobby organization Nippon Kaigi and its signatories), Buddhists (including Soka Gakkai and its affiliated party Komeito), and other actors to reconcile the incommensurate image of Japan as non-religious with the persistence of Japan's religiously-inspired political engagements, and he will discuss precedents for the moral panic that has surged in the wake of Abe's assassination to interpret ways Japan's religion/politics nexus is now developing.
- Topic:
- Politics, Religion, Assassination, and Shinzo Abe
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Asia
97. Thailand: The New Monarchy Under King Vajiralongkorn?
- Author:
- Pavin Chachavalpongpun and Ann Marie Murphy
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
- Abstract:
- King Vajiralongkorn was crowned on 1 December 2016, although the official ceremony was not until 4 May 2019 (note that the official coronation was a three-day celebration from 4-6 May 2019). During this interval, Vajiralongkorn made known of his political ambition. For example, he intervened in the constitutional drafting process, requesting provisions related to the monarchy be amended. He restructured the Privy Council, removing some old councillors and filled the positions with military men. He also reformed the Crown Property Bureau. Assets previously registered to the CPB, from June 2018, would be held “in the name of His Majesty”. In other words, Vajiralongkorn took sole control of the CPB, erasing any ambiguity about the owner of this superrich organisation. A scholar argues, “The monarchy now holds more formal power than any king since 1932. The king and the military have an accommodation built around the military’s capacity for repression”. Under Bhumibol, political stability was key to the flourishing reign. Politics was predictable. Benefits were shared among major stakeholders. Underpinning Bhumibol’s strength was his unsurpassed ability to accumulate moral authority through the invigoration of the neo-royalist ideology. Under Vajiralongkorn, the palace has striven for a new management style. This talk discusses the beginning of the new reign under King Vajiralongkorn. In particular, it seeks to discuss his relationship with other key institutions, including the democratic forces.
- Topic:
- Domestic Politics, Institutions, Monarchy, and Military
- Political Geography:
- Thailand and Southeast Asia
98. The Israeli Government Falls: New Election and Implications for U.S.-Israel Relations
- Author:
- David Makovsky and Dennis Ross
- Publication Date:
- 06-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Watch an expert webcast examining the collapse of the year-old coalition government, the impact on President Biden’s upcoming Middle East trip, and the potential consequences for broader U.S.-Israel policy.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Government, Bilateral Relations, and Elections
- Political Geography:
- Iran, Middle East, Israel, and United States of America
99. Pakistan's Climate, Economic, and Political Crises
- Author:
- Syed Mohammed Ali, Elizabeth Threlkeld, and Arif Rafiq
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- Relentless floods in Pakistan have resulted in thousands of deaths, widespread displacement, and economic devastation. Today, we discuss these impacts as well as Pakistan's broader economic and climate change challenges, the ongoing political crisis, and developments on the foreign policy front. Joining us today are Syed Mohammad Ali, Elizabeth Threlkeld, and Arif Rafiq. Mohammed Ali is a non-resident scholar with MEI’s Afghanistan and Pakistan Program and a weekly columnist for Pakistan’s Express Tribune. Elizabeth is a Senior Fellow and Director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center. She previously served as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State in Pakistan in Islamabad and Peshawar. Arif is the president of Vizier Consulting, a political risk advisory company focused on the Middle East and South Asia. He’s also a non-resident scholar with MEI’s Afghanistan and Pakistan Program.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Economy, Displacement, and Flood
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and South Asia
100. The Biden Administration’s National Security Strategy
- Author:
- Alistair Taylor, Ross Harrison, Jerry Feierstein, and Marwa Maziad
- Publication Date:
- 10-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Middle East Institute (MEI)
- Abstract:
- The Biden Administration's National Security Strategy has drawn some criticism for its relatively late release, but what of its actual substance? Today, Alistair Taylor talks with four experts, each with unique insights into the context and strategy of this document with regards to the Middle East, North Africa, and American foreign policy at large. Our first guest is Ross Harrison, a Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Middle East Institute, and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Our second guest is Jerry Feierstein, Distinguished Senior Fellow on U.S. Diplomacy and Director of MEI’s Arabian Peninsula Affairs Program. We are then joined by Dr. Marwa Maziad, a Non-Resident Scholar with MEI's Defense and Security Program and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Israel Studies at the Gildenhorn Institute at the University of Maryland. Our final guest is Melissa Horvath, a Non-Resident Scholar with MEI’s Defense and Security Program and the lead Foreign Military Sales Instructor and Curriculum Developer at ASRC Federal.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, National Security, and Joe Biden
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, North America, and United States of America