The ESID Annual Adrian Leftwich Memorial Lecture with Yuen Yuen Ang - Autocracy with democratic characteristics: How the West got China Wrong.
| Dates: | 31 October 2018 |
|---|
| Times: | 17:00 - 19:00 |
|---|
| What is it: | Lecture |
|---|
| Organiser: | Global Development Institute |
|---|
| How much: | Free |
|---|
| Who is it for: | University staff, Adults, Alumni, Current University students, General public, Post 16 |
|---|
| Speaker: | Assoc Prof Yuen Yuen Ang |
|---|
|
The Effective States and Inclusive Development research centre together with the Global Development Institute is pleased to present Dr Yuen Yuen Ang, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, to discuss " Autocracy with democratic characteristics - how the West got China wrong."
For decades, Western policymakers and observers assumed that as China’s economy prospers, it will eventually and inescapably democratize. Today, however, the West is alarmed that not only does China appear more authoritarian than before, the new leadership is perceived to harbor ambitions to compete with Western powers for world dominance. This turn of events has triggered fear around the world—today, the so-called “China model” is seen as a fundamental threat to liberal-democratic values.
How did the West get China wrong? Yuen Yuen Ang argues that many observers have misunderstood the political foundation underlying China’s rise. Professor Ang’s research reveals that since market opening, China has in fact pursued significant political reforms, just not in the manner that Western observers expected. Instead of instituting multiparty elections, the reformist leadership realized some of the key benefits of democratization through bureaucratic reforms, thereby creating a unique political hybrid: autocracy with democratic characteristics. In other words, it is not autocracy but rather the injection of democratic, adaptive qualities into a single-party regime that drives China’s economic dynamism. But bureaucratic reforms cannot substitute for political reforms forever, Ang cautions. Going forward, China must release and channel the immense creative potential of civil society, which would necessitate greater freedom of expression, more public participation, and less state intervention.
Book your free ticket: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-esid-annual-adrian-leftwich-memorial-lecture-with-yuen-yuen-ang-autocracy-with-democratic-tickets-50906690281
This lecture will draw on Professor Ang’s recent essays in Foreign Affairs, available here:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2018-04-16/autocracy-chinese-characteristics and
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/asia/2018-06-29/real-china-model
Lectures are followed by an audience Q&A
All lectures are live streamed on the Global Development Institute Facebook page: www.facebook.com/globaldevinst
This event is open to members of the public and information on the accessibility of the venue is detailed at this link: https://www.disabledgo.com/access-guide/the-university-of-manchester/university-place-2
Speaker
Assoc Prof Yuen Yuen Ang
Role: Associate Professor of Political Science
Organisation: University of Michigan,
Biography: Yuen Yuen Ang is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her research applies insights from “complex adaptive systems” (or complexity for short) to the study of economic and political development, centering on how simultaneously poor and weak states can escape poverty, and the strategies and institutional designs that enable adaptive problem-solving in places beyond wealthy democracies. In 2018, she is named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, for “high-caliber scholarship that applies fresh perspectives to some of the most pressing issues of our times.” Her first book, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (Cornell University Press, Series in Political Economy, 2016), won the 2017 Peter Katzenstein Award for “best book in political economy,” the 2018 Viviana Zelizer Best Book in Economic Sociology, awarded by the American Sociological Association, and was named “Best of Books 2017” by Foreign Affairs.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Theatre A
University Place
Manchester
