Thursday, April 14
4:30-6 pm
SCC 314
Join the Brandeis International Journal for a moderated discussion on current trends in global democratization and democratic governance. Individual presentations and interactive panel discussion will analyze how grassroots, institutional, and international pressures shape the evolution of regimes. Refreshments will be provided.
Panelists include:
Dr. Yuhua Wang – assistant professor in the Department of Government at Harvard University
Dr. William Hurst – associate professor in the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University and a fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
Dr. Chandler Rosenberger – assistant professor of International and Global Studies and Sociology at Brandeis University
Nationalism and popular sovereignty are one of the biggest topics in the world today as they influence opinions and social order. The type of opinions that are necessary living a world that has strong feelings towards these topics are those that are ambitious and target the interest of a larger community. In the case of Hamilton, as mentioned in the talk, his country was ambitious and he wanted to be ambitious too, while still thinking about the benefits others would gain as a result of his actions. He did not want to rise alone; he wanted to rise with his people. On the other hand Bin Laden was a revolutionist that tried to acquire personal status, which he thought was wrongly denied. He wanted to bring certain people back to power but the ultimate goal was to grow his own. This makes us question, whom do we really support? Living in an age of recurring change and in a time where the United States Presidential election is so controversial, we should be able to pick out what each candidate is advocating for and whether it is in the interest of the nation, not just of one person.
I found Dr. Yuhua Wang’s discussion at the Brandeis International Journal Panel most interesting and relatable. He pointed out a positive linear relation between the level of democracy and rule of law in a country. The level of rule of law in this context refers to the amount of transparency, equality, and predictability in the execution of laws. Despite certain anomalies, countries with higher level of democracy have more rule of law. Using China as an example, it has a higher level of rule of law given its level of democracy (according to the model). It is, however, much lower than many western societies such as the US and UK. In China, there is a moderate extent of rule of law between citizens but not when the government is involved. Dr. Wang mentioned the importance of “关系 (connections)” in China to win in court, which is a very frequently debated topic among ordinary citizens. The anti-corruption campaign by Xi JingPing has driven the government to be more aristocratic. And it has yet to change in the foreseeable future of China.