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Public Affairs Discussion Group
"Seeds of Democracy in China?
Developments in Local Government"
February 17, 2006
Toepfer Room, Adelbert Hall
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
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Forest Tan, Ph.D.
Professor of Political Science at Cleveland State University
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Dear Colleagues:
What on earth is going on in China? And where is
China going?
The most obvious puzzle about China’s future involves
the tension between rapid economic change and relative
political stability. Many people (not just in the Bush
Administration) believe capitalist development should
lead to democratization.
Yet, from the outside and the top, the Chinese political
system looks relatively frozen in place.
The proceeds of growth can be used to buy off opposition
to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Yet growth can
also create huge regional disparities, dislocations as
people move from the countryside to cities, conflict
about distribution and opportunities for corruption.
China’s famed rural health system collapsed during the
1980s as the State lost many of its revenue sources. The
Party that Mao built from a peasant base may get rich in
the cities, but can it maintain control if the
countryside is aggrieved? How can the tensions of
development be managed?
Forest Tan has been studying change in China at many
levels. For the public affairs discussion on Friday,
February 17, he will discuss change at the most local of
levels, in the villages. Elections for village offices
are one new development. How significant are these
elections, and what do they tell us about China’s
possible future?
Professor Tan received his B.A. from Beijing Foreign
Languages Institute, M.A. from Beijing Institute of
International Relations, and Ph.D. in Political Science
from Emory University. He directs CSU’s Summer Study
Abroad program in China, and has written extensively on
a wide range of China topics, from economic growth, to
financial institutions, to local government.
As usual, the Friday Lunch is brown-bag, with beverages
and cookies provided.
Best,
Joseph White, Ph.D.
Luxenberg Family Professor and Chair
Department of Political Science
Director, Center for Policy Studies
Case Western Reserve University
Mather House 111
11201 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland OH 44106-7109
(216) 368-2426
joseph.white@case.edu
More About Our Guest
Professor Tan's research interests include comparative
politics with an emphasis on East Asian and Chinese
Politics, international relations emphasizing the
political economy of East Asian development, foreign
policy and Sino-U.S. relations.
Professor Tan is also the Director of the CSU-in-China
Summer Program. The Study Abroad program takes students
to experience political and economic development by
living and studying on the Chinese campus.
Spring Semester
Schedule
January 27: Iraq and Vietnam: Some
Questions. Joe White will
try to provoke discussion in
response to Professor George Herring’s talk on January
24, and in anticipation of the programs on January 30,
February 1, and February 2.
February 3: Medical Markets and Health Savings Accounts.
J.B. Silvers, Treuhaft Professor of Health Systems
Management, will discuss the new thing that could have a
big effect on health insurance – and it’s not the
Medicare drug plans.
February 10: The Law and “Animal Rights.” Katherine M.
Hessler, Professor of Law.
February 17: Seeds of Democracy in China? Developments
in Local Government. Forrest Qingshan Tan, Professor of
Political Science, Cleveland State University.
February 24: Discussion of the History of Case Western
Reserve University. Dick Baznik, Director of Case’s
Institute for the Study of the University in Society. In
the Guilford Lounge.
March 3: Turkey: Informal Observations on Education,
Society, Politics, and the Price of Yakut. John
Grabowski, Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor of
Applied History and Director of Research, Western
Reserve Historical Society.
March 10: Bird Flu. Thomas M. Daniel, Professor Emeritus
of Medicine.
March 17: Break Week
March 24: Robots and Emotions. Wyatt Newman, Professor
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
March 31: Sticks, Stones, and Domain Names: The Policy
Stakes in Who Controls Internet Addresses. Jacqueline
Lipton, Associate Professor of Law and Associate
Director, Frederick K. Cox International Law Center.
April 7: The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Disposal
Controversy. Joe H. Payer, Professor of Materials
Science & Engineering and Director, Department of Energy
Corrosion and Materials Performance Cooperative.
April 14: How Environmental Regulations Fragment
Gasoline Markets. Andy Morriss, Galen J. Roush Professor
of Business Law and Regulation.
April 21: Downsizing and Disability. Mark Votruba,
Assistant Professor of Economics.
April 28: Lawn-O-Rama: Coming to Terms With an American
Obsession. Ted Steinberg, Professor of History and
Law.
Parking: For
those people who seek to make special arrangements about
parking, the contact person now will be Fay Alexander.
Her phone number is 368-4440, and her e-mail is
fabrienne.alexander@case.edu.
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