India China Institute

Transforming World Politics: From Empire to Multiple Worlds
2009-11-04 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)

Accumulation, Development and Exclusion: China, India, and Global Capitalism
2009-11-02 18:00 - 20:00

China, India, Brazil and South Africa in the World Economy
2009-10-19 18:00 - 20:00

Architectural Culture in Consumerist China
2009-09-24 18:00 - 20:00
The India China Institute is pleased to welcome Professor Liu Dong, and esteemed academic from Tsinghua University.Professor Liu will speak on the unprecedented building boom in China, and its effect on the urban and cultural landscape of the country. In its rush to construct modern housing is China wiping away both the cultural memory and individuality that has made it unique?

Professor Liu is the Executive Director of the Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Learning: professor of Aesthetics, Comparative Literature and Sinology of the Philosophy Department, Tsinghya University. He is also the Chief Editor of the Chinese Scholarship Quarterly. This event will be moderated by Zha Jianying, a writer and media commentator who is also the India China Institute’s Senior Adviser in China.

Dong Liu’s presentation

The Country is Yours: Contemporary Nepali Literature
2009-09-04 18:00 - 20:00
The India China Institute invites you to a reading of selections from The Country is Yours: Contemporary Nepali Literature by Manjushree Thapa. Friday, 4 September, 2009 6:30-8:00PM Wollman Hall 65 W 11th Street The New School

The Country is Yours: Contemporary Nepali Literature Translated and introduced by Manjushree Thapa

Modern Nepali literature started in the 1930s. As a response to state censorship, one group of high modernists sought to locate human freedom in the play of language. Another group wrote more directly in favor of social justice. From these pioneers emerged the ‘democrats’ and the ‘progressives’, the distinctions between who have gradually blurred since the re-establishment of democracy in 1990. The Country Is Yours is a collection of contemporary Nepali literature. Organized in four sections- ‘The Perplexity of Living’, ‘The Right to Desire’, ‘The Imminent Liberation’ and ‘Visions’- the stories and poems of the 49 writers included here offer a view onto the upheavals of Nepali Society, Politics and Identity leading up to and after 1990. They also speak of the universal joys and sorrows of the human condition. Translated and introduced by Manjushree Thapa, this volume sensitively captures the spirit of a society at the threshold of transformation. Manjushree Thapa is a writer from Nepal, the author of many well-received books of fiction and nonfiction. Her essays and opinions have appeared widely in the Nepali and international media, including in the New York Times. Her fiction titles are Tilled Earth, a collection of short stories about Nepalis and the Nepali diaspora; The Tutor of History, a novel set in a small highway town in Nepal during a general election; and the upcoming Seasons of Flight, a novel about a Nepali woman who wins the US government’s diversity visa lottery and lands in Los Angeles. Her non-fiction titles are Forget Kathmandu, a personal account of Nepal’s political upheavals, with reportage on the Maoist insurgency; Mustang Bhot in Fragments, a travelogue to villages on the Nepal-Tibet border; and the upcoming A Boy from Siklis, a biography of the groundbreaking Nepali environmentalist Chandra Gurung. Her oeuvre includes several titles of literary translations, including Secret Places: New Writing from Nepal, published by the University of Hawai’i Press, which she co-edited.”

Emerging Exchanges: New Architectures of India
2009-04-30 - 2009-05-01
India’s architectural and urban landscape is being remade in unexpected and exuberant ways at this defining moment in its history. New economic growth, proliferation of media technologies, transnational modes of production, as well as new state and social dynamics are presenting challenges to the entrenched traditions and extraordinary diversity of India. Modern architecture in India, represented by the seminal practices of Balkrishna Doshi, Charles Correa, Raj Rewal and others have long been on a world stage, however the present moment is marked by new ideological and ideational shifts away from early modernist positions. The Delhi/Ahmedabad axis has moved east and south to Mumbai and Bangalore, which now includes a new generation of architects, both Indian and international, who are involved in a diverse range of practices and productions that are re-imagining entrenched histories of both modernities and traditions. Centrifugal and centripetal dynamics characterizes contemporary practices where many architects look to balance global and transnational imperatives as well as more situated approaches to building. The circulation of these inward and outward movements has resulted in both the glittering towers that reproduce the Special Economic Zones of Shanghai or Dubai as an enclave in a landscape of contested territories and economic disparities. At the same time, some architects are engaged in emplaced material practices related to landscape, siting, local building fabrication, and programming, which has led to reconsidering new regionalisms and the informal sector.The Architectural League of New York, the India China Institute and Parsons The New School for Design plan a two-day conference to probe these material economies and territorial intersections in Indian architecture today. These circuits and realignments will be examined by keynote speakers, project presentations and interdisciplinary panels in order to present a body of emerging architectural practices, while unraveling the forces of the larger cultural and social dynamics that these projects generate, concentrate and disperse.

Download Full Conference Agenda

The Historical Chindian Paradigm: Intercultural Transfusion and Solidification
2009-04-21 17:00 - 19:00
View Tan Chung Presentation

Democracy Today
2009-04-17 - 2009-04-18
Modern democracy can be understood as a form of life, a set of institutional structures linked to legal-juridical concerns, and a collective imaginary rooted in representational practices. The aim of this conference is to examine the challenges, accomplishments and particularities of democracy as it has surfaced across Africa, Middle East, India, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and in the United States of America.This conference, will gather a remarkable group of scholars to discuss the various experiences of contemporary democracies and the challenges confronting them.

This event is free; no tickets or reservations required; seating is first-come first-served

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Sociology Student Association, the India China Institute, The New School for Social Research Dean’s Office, Department of Political Science, and The New School for General Studies: Bachelor’s Program.

Download Full Conference Agenda

Ashok Gurung: The Politics of Establishing Inclusive Democracy in Nepal

The Future of Inequality in China
2009-04-09 18:00 - 20:00
Economic inequality has grown sharply in China in recent decades, making a formerly egalitarian society into one of the most unequal countries in its region. What are the forces shaping this transformation and how are they likely to play out in the near future? Professor Carl Riskin will address these questions and other questions in his upcoming talk.Carl Riskin is a Distinguished Professor of Economics at Queens College, CUNY and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute. He is the author of China’s Political Economy: The Quest for Development since 1949 and of books and articles dealing with the impact of economic development on poverty, inequality and human development more generally. He has also done extensive consulting work for the United Nations Development Programme in China and elsewhere.

Smoke and Mirrors
2009-04-08 18:30 - 20:00
Author and journalist Pallavi Aiyar will discuss her book Smoke and Mirrors, a personal account of her years spent living and working in China. Moderated by Siddhartha Deb, Writer in Residence at The New School Pallavi Aiyar is the Beijing-based China Bureau Chief for The Hindu group of publications. She has reported from across China for over six years. She is the winner of the 2007 Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for excellence in political reporting and analysis, the youngest ever recipient of the prize. She was also awarded a Reuters Foundation Fellowship at Oxford in the same year. Aside from her work as a journalist, she has taught news writing to students at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute and served as an advisor to the Confederation of Indian Industry on China-related issues. Smoke and Mirrors is a smart, insightful book about modern China. What sets Aiyar’s work apart is that it is not written by an academic or expert, nor is it told from either a Western or Chinese viewpoint…… she has discovered a way of bridging her native and adopted homes. As someone well acquainted with the problems of Asian development, she easily sees past the smoke and mirrors of China’s shiny new metropolises” International Herald Tribune“

Transforming China: The Impact of Buddhism and Islam on Premodern and Modern China
2009-04-02 18:00 - 20:00
Professors Tansen Sen and Yihong Liu will lead a panel discussion on religion in China, with a focus on the contributions of Buddhism and Islam. As decorated scholars, their discussion will help illuminate the cultural cross-currents that have and will continue to influence the complicated cultural milieu of this increasingly important region.Discussion moderated by Faisal Devji, Associate Professor of History, The New School for Social ResearchYihong Liu is a researcher and scholar on Islamic and Chinese philosophy. An official member of the Columbia Society of Comparative philosophy, she is a supervisor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a Professor at the Institute of Philosophy.Tansen Sen is an Associate Professor of Asian History and Religions at Baruch College, The City University of New York. Currently he is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He is the author of Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400. He has also guest edited a special issue of the journal China Report entitled Kolkata and China.

Harmony between Urban Development & Environmental Planning: The successful case of Xi’an, China
2009-03-31 16:30 - 17:30
WANG Jun, Deputy Mayor of Xi’an, will deliver a talk about urban development and environmental planning in Xi’an. As Deputy Mayor, Mr. WANG is utilizing ideas of modernization, fashion, and environmental awareness in the building of a new Xi’an. He will talk about his proposed concept of building a new Xi’an that reflects the history, culture, science, and innovation of such a historically important city. In September 2007, Mr. Wang led the Xi’an government delegation to London and won the bidding to host the 2011 World Horticultural Expo. This international exposition will be a six-month long event (April through October 2011) hosted in the Chanba Bio District of Xi’an, China. The expo is expected to draw 10 million visitors, and over 40 foreign and 60 domestic cities to Xi’an.

Learning to Unlearn from Development: Ideology and Experience
2009-03-10 16:00 - 17:00

China, India, Brazil and South Africa: Engines of Growth in the World?
2009-03-02 18:00 - 20:00
Deepak Nayyar, Distinguished Univeristy Professor of Economics, The New School, will deliver a lecture on his research regarding China, India, Brazil and South Africa as engines of economic growth in the world, moderated by Professor Anwar Shaikh, Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research. This event is co-sponsored by India China Institute and the Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research. It is the first of a series of discussions with Professor Nayyar.
Professor Nayyar has taught at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, University of Oxford, The University of Sussex, the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi from 200 to 2005. Recent Books include Governing Globalization: Issues and Institutions, and as co-author with Joseph Stiglitz and Jose Antonio Ocampo et al, Stability with Growth: Macroeconomics, Liberalization and Development.

Deepak Nayyar’s presentation

The Disinterested Government: An Interpretation of China’s Economic Success in the Reform Area
2009-02-17 18:00 - 20:00
A talk by Professor Yao Yang, China Center for Economic Research, Beijing University & ICI Fellow.

In the last 30 years, China has reached high economic growth and successfully transformed itself from a planning economy to a market economy. To a large extent, China has achieved its successes by adopting the recommendations proposed by the standard economic theory. However, a political economy question has been left out in the literature: Why has China adopted the right economic policies and a proper road to reform? This talk attempts to provide an answer to this question.

Discussion Moderated by: Jianying Zha, ICI Representative in China & author.

Dr. Yao obtained his B.S. in geography in 1986 and M.S. of Economics in 1989 both from Peking University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Development Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996. Dr. Yao has been following issues of land acquisition, ownership transformation, and migration in China for the past decade. Yao has taught economics at various institutions in China, Japan, and the United States. In addition, he has served as a consultant to the World Bank and participated in numerous contemporary debates about China’s economic reform. Yao writes widely in the popular and academic in China and is a respected authority on rural development

Student Fellows Presentations
2009-02-13 13:00 - 16:00

China’s Gradual Economic Reform in Light of Income & Wealth Distribution
2008-11-24
Presentation by Zhao Renwei Institute of Economics, CASS – part of ICI fellows’ China ResidencyView presentation

Reflections and Analysis of the Historic Constituent Assembly Election
2008-11-13 17:30 - 20:30
Reflections and Analysis of the Historic Constituent Assembly Election: A Discussion with Bhojraj Pokharel, Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal

This discussion will be followed by Q&A SessionLimited seating on a first come basis

In October 2006, Bhojraj Pokharel was appointed the Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal, and oversaw the historic Constituent Assembly (CA) Election on April 10th 2008 – the country’s first post-conflict election. His leadership in the successful planning and implementation of the CA election, against a backdrop of major political and logistical challenges, has been widely recognized by national and international institutions, including the Secretary General of the United Nations. Mr. Pokharel will share his experiences of the CA elections and discuss his views of the future of Nepal’s electoral process.

View Bhojraj Pokharel’s presentation

Film Screening: Still Life
2008-11-11 17:00 - 20:00
Grand Prize winner at the 2006 Venice Film Festival! In “Still Life” the blood and the sweat run directly into the Yangtze River, where they mingle with more than a few tears. The movie takes place amid the clatter and misery of the Three Gorges Dam, which cuts across the Yangtze in central China. The largest dam in the world, Three Gorges is a site of great cultural and political strife because of both environmental and humanitarian concerns. This may sound like a prescription for social cinema, but director Jia Zhang-ke’s interest lies in visual ideas and human behavior, not agendas.

Kristine Harris (PhD, Columbia University) is Associate Professor of Chinese History and Director of the Asian Studies Program at the State University of New York. In Spring 2007 she was Visiting Associate Professor in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago. She has also taught at the New School for Social Research. Her research explores the social and political facets of film culture in China from the 1890’s to the present, with emphasis on the pre-1949 period. Her publications include The Metropolis in the Cinematic Imagination of Republican China and the City Symphony Film,” In Dushi wenhua zhong de xiandai zhongguo 都市文化中的现代中国 [Popular Culture of the Modern Metropolis] (Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2007) and “The Goddess: Fallen Woman of Shanghai,” in Chinese Films in Focus (BFI 2003, 2008). “

India's Water Relations with Her Neighbors
2008-11-03 17:30 - 19:30
A presentation by Professor Ramaswamy R. Iyer, India’s Centre for Policy Research with discussant Lopamudra Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Economics, The New School.

Limited seating on a first come basis.

The Himalayas feeds nine of the largest rivers in the region on which more than 1.5 billion people depend upon downstream. Over the years these water systems have also been one of the more sensitive political subjects in the region. Today there is a bidding war for controlling these water ways for various reasons including large hydro power plants and India is actively negotiating new as well as old treaties with its neighbors.

Professor Ramaswamy R. Iyer is currently a member of the High Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster, an adjunct to the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. He was formerly the Secretary of Water Resources in the Government of India. After his retirement from the Government, he was Research Professor at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) , New Delhi, where he worked on water-related issues, and in particular on cooperation on river waters by India, Nepal and Bangladesh. He continues with CPR in an honorary capacity. Professor Iyer will discuss India’s inter-country water relations with Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. He will address both transboundary river water systems as well as looking beyond river waters, governments and big projects to outline other possibilities of cooperation between India and these countries.

Development & Empowerment Through the Arts
2008-10-21 18:00 - 20:00
A talk and discussion with Dr. Mallika Sarabhai. Dr. Sarabhai, educated as an economist and a business manager, is well known as a performer, writer, strategist, and as a social activist. For over 30 years Dr. Sarabhai has led Darpana, to becoming a leading workshop for the arts where the focus has been on excellence and the use of the arts for social change. Darpana for Development was founded in 1982 to concentrate on developing performance as a language for change. Raising public awareness of violence against women in every strata of society is an important facet of Mallika’s work. The Darpana 50 Showcase in Delhi is presented in collaboration with Sakshi, an NGO that works for women’s empowerment and, through intervention with schools, colleges, and people involved in health care, social work and public life, seeks to realize a ‘vision of equality and the basic right of women and children to a life free from violence.’ Mallika Sarabhai has performed in over 90 countries including the United States. She has acted in more than 30 films. She played the lead character of Draupadi in an international theater production of “The Mahabharata” by renowned director Peter Brook.

Sponsored by Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, and Parsons The New School for Design. Co-Sponsored by the India China Institute at the New School.

Vertical Density | Sustainable Solutions
2008-10-16 - 2008-10-18
The Skyscraper Museum Presents:

An International Symposium:

In conjunction with its Vertical Cities: Hong Kong | New York exhibition, The Skyscraper Museum presents an international symposium that examines the dramatic vertical urbanism of Hong Kong and New York and asks: “Is density a strategy for sustainable cities?”

Three separate programs are held in partnership with The Regional Plan Association, The New School’s India China Institute and The Tishman Environment and Design Center and features Hong Kong and New York leaders from development, design and government.

Thursday, Oct. 16, 3-5:30pm: Learning from Hong Kong Using the Venturi and Scott-Brown model of Learning from Las Vegas, this program will examine Hong Kong’s extreme density and development model of transit and towers and asks: What can New York learn?

Friday, Oct. 17th, 2-5:30pm: Debating Density Developers love density: urban activists generally decry it. Government officials try to find a balance between revenues generated by private development and the high costs of infrastructure and public amenities. Does density pay? Or does it cost?

Saturday Oct. 18th, 2:30-5pm: Designing Density In Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas admired Manhattan’s “culture of congestion”. Hong Kong has had the most densely-inhabited districts in the world, first by lack of regulation, then by design. An afternoon of discussion among academics and architects examines concepts of density and extreme urbanism in theory and practice.

All events are FREE but space is limited, REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED: www.skyscraper.org/verticaldensity

Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the New Asian Age
2008-10-15 17:00 - 19:00
Reconsidering The Wealth of Nations: China and the future of capitalism – Presentation by Giovanni Arrighi, Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Discussant: Duncan Foley, Leo Model Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research

Chair and Moderator: Arjun Appadurai, John Dewey Distinguished Professor in the Social Sciences, The New School for Social Research

Giovanni Arrighi’s main interests are in the fields of long-term, large-scale social change and of inequality within and between nations. The publication of Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-first Century (2007) completes the investigation of the origins and transformations of the world capitalist system that he initiated with The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times (1994) and continued with Chaos and Governance in the Modern World System (1999) co-authored with Beverly J. Silver. Dr. Arrighi has taught in Africa, Europe, and North America. His work has been published in more than fifteen languages. His current research focuses on regional differentiation within the global South with special reference to the contrasting developmental trajectories of Southern Africa and East Asia.

Prospects and Challenges of Identity Politics in the New Nepal
2008-09-30 18:00 - 20:00
A conversation with Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Upendra Yadav

Comments by: Prof. Sanjay Ruparelia, The New School and Kul Chandra Gautam, Senior Fellow, India China Institute

Refreshments will be served

Co-sponsored by: Association of Nepali Teraian in America Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal Federation of Indigenous Peoples of Nepal in America Nepal American Society of Oppressed Community Nepalese Democratic Youth Council, USA United Nepalese Democratic Forum.

A Maoist Vision for a New Nepal
2008-09-26 18:00 - 20:00
Remarks by Andrew Arato, Dorothy Hart Hirshon Professor of Political & Social Theory, The New School; Q&A session moderated by Kul Gautam, Senior Fellow, India China Institute.

A public talk by Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda (‘The Fierce One’), the first democratically elected Maoist Prime Minister of Nepal, the World’s Youngest Democratic Republic! Nepal’s Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda (‘The Fierce One’), came to power in August 2008 following his party’s success in the country’s first-ever Constituent Assembly elections. Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and leader of its People’s Liberation Army, he led a decade-long People’s War (1996- 2006) with the goals of ending Nepal’s monarchy and creating a new federal republic. This year, Constituent Assembly elections held in April yielded a near majority for the Maoists. The Assembly’s first meeting ended a 240-year-old monarchy and began its main task: creating Nepal’s new constitution. In addition to leading the Assembly in this historic monumental task, Prachanda now faces the challenges of managing a complex coalition government to address the long-neglected basic needs of the people, while at the same time establishing security and peace in Nepal under the watchful gaze of an interested but skeptical international community.

Admission is free and open to the public. Limited seating on a first come basis, seating must be completed by 5:45PM

Co-sponsored by: Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights in Nepal American Nepal Friendship Society Association of Nepali Tarain in America Federation of Indigenous Peoples of Nepal in America United Nepalese Democratic Forum Adhikaar Nepalese Americas Council Friends of Nepal- New Jersey In Conversation (a podcast on www.Samudaya.org)

SUPER, GIRLS!
2008-09-19 05:30 - 20:00
SUPER, GIRLS!With a presentation and Q&A session with Director and India China Institute Fellow Jian Yi, and moderated by Jianying Zha, Writer and ICI Representative in China. Instant fame or eternal obscurity? Launched in 2005, the “Super Girl Singing Contest” TV show has spawned what has arguably become the single most important Chinese pop culture phenomena of this decade so far. “Super, Girls!” is the only feature-length documentary made so far on this show. The show, being “too popular”, is banned by broadcast media authorities in Beijing from 2007 onward.

Vision For a New Nepal: A Maoist Perspective
2008-04-28 18:30 - 20:30
Vision for a New Nepal: A Maoist PerspectiveA dialogue with Dev Prasad Gurung, Hon. Minister of Local Development & Senior Member of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)

Background: The first-ever Constituent Election in Nepal, held on April 10th 2008, produced stunningly different results than most experts predicted. By awarding 120 out of 240 elected seats to the Maoists, the people of Nepal have expressed strong confidence in the Communist Party‰Ûªs leadership. Without a doubt, there will be a fundamental shift in the creation of a new Nepal. While 335 seats under the Proportional Representation system have yet to be tallied, the Maoists will likely lead the new government. Falling short of the simple majority in the Constituent Assembly, they must work with other political parties to form the future government and rewrite the Constitution. There are many critical issues yet to be addressed: What is the vision for a new Nepal? What type of Federalism will the Maoists help bring about? How will the aspirations of marginalized communities for inclusive democracy become a reality?

The Honorable Mr. Dev Prasad Gurung is Minister for Local Development. A member of Central Committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), he won two constituencies during the election for Constituent Assembly held on April 10, 2008. Mr. Gurung was born in 1958 in the Manang District in Nepal. He received a certificate of Civil Engineering, a B.Ed, and a M.A. in political science from Tribhuvan University. In 1978, he joined the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) and participated in student movement against Panchayat system. He was elected as a member of Party Central Committee CPN (Unity Centre) in 1992 and to the politburo in 1995. In 1997, he was arrested in Gorkha and was released from prison in 2000. Two years later, he was elected as Central Committee Secretary of United Revolutionary People’s Council. In 2002, he became a member of party negotiation team with the government. In 2005, he became a member of the 7th Party Congress Central Organizing Committee and Central Secretariat. He is Co-chair of the Nepal Foundation for Development of Indigenous Nationalities.

Nepal's Forest: Retrospects and Prospects
2008-04-26 16:00 - 18:00

China's Aid to Africa: Implications and International Perspectives
2008-04-25 16:00 - 19:00
After decades of deficient Western policies to develop Africa, China’s increasingly bold, no-strings approach to investment and aid in Africa attracts both cautious praise and withering criticism. Can China’s aid to Africa be seen as an incipient new developmental model, a catalyst for prosperity, a deleterious neo-colonialist gambit, or elements of all three? Will the flow of Chinese money to Africa undermine arduous efforts at accountability and effective aid by Western institutions, or can it induce innovation among traditional donors whose own track records are open to much criticism? How should scholars, policy-makers, and aid organizations make sense of the impact of China’s inroads into commerce, extractive industries, construction, flows of manufactured goods, capital and even labor? How do Africans and Chinese view the current efforts of their respective governments, private sectors, and civil societies to engage each other? What are the implications for bilateral and multilateral relations, governance and the environment?

The India China Institute, in conjunction with The New School’s Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) presents a public panel discussion on China’s Aid to Africa with leading scholars, government officials, and practitioners from China, Africa, the US and Europe. The panel will explore, inter alia, the history, implementation and implications of China’s aid policies towards Africa; the way China’s experience as an aid recipient influences its policies abroad; the impact of China’s aid on African socio-economic development and governance; and how existing donors can respond and engage this new phenomenon. Case studies from Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola will inform the discussion, and an African government official and international NGO professional will share their experience working with Chinese players in negotiating aid terms and advocating for better environmental and governance standards.Speakers include:

Deborah Brautigam, Associate Professor, School of International Service, American University;Sun Baohong, Counselor, Policy Analysis Section, Chinese Embassy, Washington DC;Mukenge Betu-Kabansu, Secretary of the Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo;Zhang Jun, Researcher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing;Peter Bosshard, Policy Director, International Rivers;Daniel Large, Research Director of the Africa Asia Centre, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London;Tang Xiaoyang, PhD Candidate, Department of Philosophy, The New School.

Moderated by Jonathan Bach, Associate Director, Graduate Program in International Affairs.This event was made possible by the generous support of the NASDAQ Foundation as part of a series of events on “Global China” co-sponsored by the India China Institute at the New School.

Prosperity and Inequality Conference
2008-03-27
The centerpiece of the 2008 New York residency “Prosperity and Inequality: Debates in India and China,” marked the beginning of two years of trilateral conversations among the 2008-10 ICI Fellows. The conference juxtaposed issues in India and China such as urbanization and wealth-formation; the management of risks associated with rapid growth in agrarian societies; the implementation of alternative designs for future development; and how to combine the virtues of socialism and capitalism without sacrificing the virtues of democracy and grassroots activism. The keynote address, delivered by Kemal Dervis, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, addressed the basis for economic growth in China and India; their relationship to the U.S. economy; as well as constraints on growth and the effect of the economic slow-down. Dervis is an expert in development economics and has held various positions at the World Bank as well as served as the Minister for Economic Affairs in his native Turkey. He serves as chair of the UN Development Group, a committee comprised of the heads of all UN funds, programs, and departments related to development.

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