Speaker: Adrian Zenz, Lecturer in social research methods, European School of Culture & Theology, Germany. Dr. Zenz is author of the recently published paper, '"Thoroughly Reforming Them Towards a Healthy Heart Attitude" - China's Political Re-Education Campaign in Xinjiang,' (Central Asian Survey 2018).  

Moderator: Mark Elliott, Vice Provost, International Affairs, Harvard University


Co-Sponsored by:

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies
East Asian Legal Studies Program, Harvard Law School
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program

Line-In Record

Recent Developments in Xinjiang, with Adrian Zenz

As the role of “strongman” leaders on the world stage appears to be on the rise, this panel examines “strongman politics” in a comparative context. In May 2018, Time Magazine proclaimed in an article that “The ‘Strongmen Era’ Is Here” (Time, May 3, 2018). Highlighting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping’s tightening authoritarianism in Russia and China, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Rodrigo Duterte, and Viktor Orbán’s undermining of democratic norms in Turkey, the Philippines, and Hungary, it certainly appears that Huntington’s post-Cold War “third wave” of democratization is witnessing a strongman-inspired reversal. But does this entail a new “era” of authoritarianism advance as the United States rhetorically withdraws from its global leadership role?

This panel examines the role of politically-strong male leaders in authoritarian countries in a comparative context. Elsa Clavé, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Asia Center, examines the 2016 election of Duterte in the Philippines; Ayşe Kadıoğlu, Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, looks at Erdoğan’s reversal of Turkey’s previous move towards democratization; Joseph Fewsmith, Professor Political Science at Boston University, compares Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power in China to Mao’s historical rise at Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party; and Valerie Sperling, Professor of Political Science at Clark University, interrogates the cult-like masculinity of Vladimir Putin’s image as a “manly” leader in post-Soviet Russia.

Regarding her upcoming discussion of the presidency of Duterte at the panel, Asia Center Postdoctoral Fellow Elsa Clavé, a historian of the Philippines working on the expression of authority and power in its Muslim periphery, stated “President Duerte is not only a populist; he was elected and stays extremely popular for various other reasons. Understanding these reasons is essential to understanding the present society and the direction it is taking. Models and theory are a good approach to reality, but reality exceeds both. A conversation between different fields and disciplines will help, I hope, to refine the model.”

The panel is moderated by Thomas Vallely, Senior Advisor at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School, and a specialist on Southeast Asia, and introduced by Karen Thornber, Director of the Harvard University Asia Center.

Co-sponsoring Centers:
Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Harvard University Asia Center
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University
Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University
Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University

Strongman Politics in the 21st Century

Speaker: Stephen Owen, Harvard University

Stephen Owen is a sinologist specializing in premodern literature, lyric poetry, and comparative poetics. Much of his work has focused on the middle period of Chinese literature (200-1200), however, he has also written on literature of the early period and the Qing. Owen has written or edited dozens of books, articles, and anthologies in the field of Chinese literature, especially Chinese poetry, including An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (Norton, 1996); The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry (Harvard Asia Center, 2006); and The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860) (Harvard Asia Center, 2006). Owen has completed the translation of the complete poetry of Du Fu, which has been published as the inaugural volumes of the Library of Chinese Humanities series, featuring Chinese literature in translation. Owen earned a B.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1972) in Chinese Language from Yale University. He taught there from 1972 to 1982, before coming to Harvard. In acknowledgment of his groundbreaking work that crosses the boundaries of multiple disciplines, Owen was awarded the James Bryant Conant University Professorship in 1997. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, held a Guggenheim Fellowship, and received a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award (2006) among many other awards and honors.

Discussant: Stephen H. West

Stephen West is a Foundation Professor of Chinese in the School of International Letters and Cultures. West works in the textual culture of late medieval and early modern China (1000–1600), with specialties in performance literature, drama, urban literature, and garden studies.

The Reischauer Lectures were established in 1985 to honor Edwin O. Reischauer, University Professor Emeritus of Harvard University, by celebrating his distinguished contributions to the study not only of Japan but also of China and Korea. As a reflection of Reischauer’s research, this series intends to highlight current scholarship that deepens understandings of East Asia as a region.

Sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center, Korea Institute, Mittal South Asia Institute, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.

Transcript: https://hrvd.me/1208d

Part 2: Su Dongpo and Ink Bamboo | 2018 Annual Reischauer Lecture with Stephen Owen

Speaker: Stephen Owen, Harvard University

Stephen Owen is a sinologist specializing in premodern literature, lyric poetry, and comparative poetics. Much of his work has focused on the middle period of Chinese literature (200-1200), however, he has also written on literature of the early period and the Qing. Owen has written or edited dozens of books, articles, and anthologies in the field of Chinese literature, especially Chinese poetry, including An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (Norton, 1996); The Making of Early Chinese Classical Poetry (Harvard Asia Center, 2006); and The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860) (Harvard Asia Center, 2006). Owen has completed the translation of the complete poetry of Du Fu, which has been published as the inaugural volumes of the Library of Chinese Humanities series, featuring Chinese literature in translation. Owen earned a B.A. (1968) and a Ph.D. (1972) in Chinese Language from Yale University. He taught there from 1972 to 1982, before coming to Harvard. In acknowledgment of his groundbreaking work that crosses the boundaries of multiple disciplines, Owen was awarded the James Bryant Conant University Professorship in 1997. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, held a Guggenheim Fellowship, and received a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Award (2006) among many other awards and honors.

Discussant: Michael Puett, Harvard University

Michael Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, as well as the Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion, at Harvard University. His interests are focused on the inter-relations between philosophy, anthropology, history, and religion, with the hope of bringing the study of China into larger historical and comparative frameworks. He is the author of The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early Chinaand To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China, as well as the co-author, with Adam Seligman, Robert Weller, and Bennett Simon, of Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity.

The Reischauer Lectures were established in 1985 to honor Edwin O. Reischauer, University Professor Emeritus of Harvard University, by celebrating his distinguished contributions to the study not only of Japan but also of China and Korea. As a reflection of Reischauer’s research, this series intends to highlight current scholarship that deepens understandings of East Asia as a region.

Sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University. Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Asia Center, Korea Institute, Mittal South Asia Institute, and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies.

Transcript: https://hrvd.me/1aa2c

Part 1: Flavors of Truth and Claims of Authority | 2018 Annual Reischauer Lecture with Stephen Owen

Speaker: Scott Kennedy, Senior Adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

An American policy to economically decouple from China is a radical idea, and if adopted, would cause substantial damage to American interests. Policies based on “managed interdependence” would be more effective in protecting the economy, national security, values, and public health of the United States.

Scott Kennedy is senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A leading authority on Chinese economic policy, his specific areas of expertise include industrial policy, technology innovation, business lobbying, U.S.-China commercial relations, and global governance.  He is currently writing a book tentatively titled, The Power of Innovation:The Strategic Importance of China’s High-Tech Drive.

This event was recorded over Zoom.

Decoupling from China: A Radical and Dangerous Idea, with Scott Kennedy

The Fairbank Center is a world-leading center on China at Harvard University. Listen to interviews on our "Harvard on China" podcast, recordings from our public events, and audio from our archives.

Decoupling from China: A Radical and Dangerous Idea, with Scott Kennedy

Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

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