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CHINA DIGEST 21/05

Globalists see themselves as the peacekeepers through their advocacy of the values of liberalism, free trade, democracy and internationalism. Yet the actions of the institutions over which they preside seem to bring the opposite. They generate division and conflict both within nations and also between them. So we have heightened polarisation within Brexit Britain, as well as within other leading European countries. Within the European Union, tensions have escalated both between north and south, and between west and east. And despite the claimed Macron-Trump bromance, trans-Atlantic conflicts are mounting too. Is all this an inevitable outcome of the globalist perspective that denies the effectiveness of national state policies? Is there a solution to the widely held ‘global trilemma’, suggested by the writer Dani Rodrik? This says that economic globalisation, democracy and national sovereignty are mutually incompatible: we can combine any two of the three, but never have all three simultaneously and in full.

The Academy 2018: Globalism and neo-liberalism - Phil Mullan

A recording of a lecture by Rachel Hammersley at The Academy 2018, a residential weekend organised by the Academy of Ideas. Find out more here: http://www.academyofideas.org.uk/events/archive/the_academy_2018#.W26sCOhKi3B

Rachel Hammersley is senior lecturer, intellectual history, Newcastle University; author, The English Republican Tradition and Eighteenth-Century France; editor, Revolutionary Moments: reading revolutionary texts

Introduction:

Popular sovereignty lies at the heart of our modern understanding of democracy government. But what does this concept mean and how did it emerge? In the large states of Northern Europe, for much of the medieval period and beyond, the term ‘sovereign’ was conventionally used to describe a monarch. Yet, from the sixteenth century onwards, the concept was being transformed. This lecture traces that transformation, taking in the influential distinction drawn by Jean Bodin between sovereignty and government and the practical and theoretical developments arising out of the English, American and French Revolutions.

TASCAM DR-07 

Academy 2018: The Transformation of the Concept of Popular Sovereignty in Early-Modern Europe

A recording of a lecture by Dr Jim Panton at The Academy 2018, a residential weekend organised by the Academy of Ideas. Find out more here: http://www.academyofideas.org.uk/events/archive/the_academy_2018#.W5ur3vlKiUl

Liberalism is generally, and many liberals are in particular, ambivalent about nationalism. On the one hand, early liberal and republican thinkers developed bold attempts to theorise sovereignty as the foundation of state legitimacy and unifying condition of the nation. On the other hand, liberal thinkers have struggled to justify the accidental character of national boundaries and the implications these have for inhabitants of different nations. Further, modern liberals disavow the chauvinism they believe to be inherent in nationalism, proposing instead a cosmopolitan ethics. This lecture considers the development of the liberal ideal of the state in the thought of Locke, Rousseau, and ultimately, Kant, and looks at the extent to which the Kantian model of sovereignty as the foundation of nation-statehood, is increasingly maligned.

The Academy 2018

Academy 2018: The ideal of the liberal nation state

In this episode, we discuss conflict resolution and development in the northeast Indian state of Nagaland. The long-running insurgency in Nagaland looks to be drawing to a close following conclusion of a framework for a peace agreement in 2015 between the government of India and the Naga rebels, but a final peace deal is still pending. For Nagaland's state government, the challenge for the future is solidifying good governance that will translate to development.

Joining the pod to provide an update on the peace process, state politics, and efforts to increase infrastructure and investment in Nagaland is Mr. Abu Metha. Mr. Metha is a journalist and political organizer who serves as the General Secretary of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party in Nagaland. He recently sat down with CSIS Wadhwani Chair Research Associate Aman Thakker to share his insights on the current status of Nagaland. 

Audio edited by Ribka Gemilangsari. Written by Jeffrey Bean and Aman Thakker.  Produced by Jeffrey Bean.

Spotlight on Nagaland Post-Insurgency

This episode investigates the evolving political and economic circumstances surrounding Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and its attempts to integrate its technology in global markets. Our guest, Dr. James Lewis, explores the growing concerns in the US and some of its democratic allies about Huawei, as well as the decisions by countries like the UK to adopt Huawei technology. Dr. Lewis also discusses Huawei’s relationship with the Chinese government and the diplomatic fallout between Beijing and Washington over the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
 
Dr. James Lewis is a senior vice president and director of the Technology Policy Program at CSIS. Before joining CSIS, he worked at the Departments of State and Commerce as a Foreign Service officer and as a member of the Senior Executive Service. His current research examines the effect of technology on warfare and how the Internet has changed politics.

The Real Costs of Huawei Technology: A Conversation with James Lewis

As China’s economy continues to develop, and individuals and private companies amass greater wealth, another area of growth is the philanthropic sector. Shen Danxi, a 2018 Richard Rockefeller Fellow and deputy secretary general of the Sany Foundation, talks about how her foundation represents a new generation of Chinese philanthropy, and what she sees as the key differences between American and Chinese foundations.  Shen Danxi is the deputy secretary general at the Sany Foundation, a private, corporate foundation in Beijing. Ms. Shen oversees the foundation’s grant making, program research, and global partnerships. She previously supervised the Sany Foundation’s 3ESPACE, a co-working incubator and event hub for social innovators. Prior to joining the Sany Foundation, Ms. Shen worked at the intersection of education and social innovation through partnership development and program design at the Harvard SEED for Social Innovation (now a registered fund at Shanghai Adream Foundation), a network for China’s next generation of social sector leaders. Ms. Shen holds a master’s degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and has studied international human rights and linguistics at Peking University, Waseda University, and Beijing Foreign Studies University. Ms. Shen is also founder of Dean D’Art, a volunteer organization that has brought drama and arts education to over 300 migrant children in Beijing, and currently sits on the board of the Beijing Deqing Charitable Foundation.

Shen Danxi: Comparing Chinese and American Philanthropy

This week, 3 CSIS experts discuss the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global strategy to be at the center of global economics through infrastructure, trade, and energy projects.  In the years since BRI was launched, definitions and expectations for BRI projects and financing have changed. In April, over 3 dozen countries met in China for the second Belt and Road summit, which was posed answer some of the new project concerns which have arisen, including local impacts, environmental concerns, debt, and lack of transparency.   (Read more at https://csis.org/podcasts/energy-360/changing-expectations-belt-and-road-initiative)

Changing Expectations for the Belt and Road Initiative

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