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Japan’s Multiple Models

Finding broader characterizations ill-fitting, scholars have often spoken of Japan’ political economy as a sui-generis Japanese model. This workshop proposes that in fact the models that Japan has offered the world are multiple. The “economic miracle” made Japan a key point of reference for planners, politicians, and intellectuals on both sides of the Cold War, as well as in the Global South. But interpretations diverged over what generated such prosperity and what its political import was. Since the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s, Japan has become a symbol of something else: the fragility of growth. Here, too, it has come across as multifaceted. To contemporary observers, Japan has appeared not only as a cautionary tale but, increasingly since the 2008 financial crisis, a template for how to manage secular stagnation. Over three presentations and a follow-up discussion, we will explore how Japan’s political economy has been variously interpreted and put to use by an array of observers—from American Neocons, to Bulgarian planners, to a transpacific clique of free marketeers.

Jennifer Miller, Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth, wil offer a talk on “The Right Kind of Traditional: U.S. Neoconservative Thought on Japanese Capitalism in the 1970s and 1980s”.

Victor Petrov, Assistant Professor, The University of Tennessee Knoxville, will offer a talk on “A Forest of Chimneys: Socialist Bulgaria’s Modernisation and the Dream of a ‘Mini-Japan’ 1965-1989”.

Colin Jones, Adjunct Associate Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University; Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, will offer a talk on “How ‘Structural Impediments’ Were Made: Japan’s Land Problem, US-Japan Trade Talks, and the Neoliberal Turn”.

Moderated by: Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History, Department of History, Columbia University

Online via Zoom. Please register here.

This event is organized by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University.

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Institutional Origins of Miscalculation in Chinese Foreign Policy

Please join us for a lecture:

Institutional Origins of Miscalculation in Chinese Foreign Policy

Tyler Jost, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, Brown University

When is China prone to miscalculate its relative strength or its adversary’s intentions? Since Xi Jinping’s rise to power, scholars and policymakers are increasingly concerned that erosion of collective leadership in China might lead to foreign policy blunders. This article instead finds that, historically, institutional miscalculation in China has stemmed from the relationship between political leaders and their bureaucratic advisers, rather than political accountability. It introduces a typology of political-bureaucratic relationships, which I term national security institutions, and develops a theory specifying that institutions restricting information flow and deliberation with military, diplomatic, and intelligence advisers make leaders prone to miscalculations that might have otherwise have been avoided. Two paired comparisons of decision-making under personalist (the 1962 Taiwan Straits Crisis and the 1969 Sino-Soviet Border Conflict) and collectivist (the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War and 2001 EP-3 incident) dictatorship in China illustrate the theory of institutional miscalculation.

Speaker bio: Tyler Jost’s research focuses on national security decision-making, bureaucratic politics, and Chinese foreign policy. His current book project examines domestic institutions designed to decide and coordinate national security policy, such as the U.S. National Security Council. He completed his doctoral degree in the Department of Government at Harvard University and held postdoctoral fellowships in the International Security Program at the Kennedy School of Government, as well as in the China and the World Program at Columbia University. He completed his undergraduate studies at West Point and served as a military officer with assignments to Afghanistan, U.S. Cyber Command, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Organized by the China and the World Program, cosponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.

Online via Zoom. Registration information here.

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Parenting Needs of Chinese Parents of Children with Autism

Please join us for a lecture:

Parenting Needs of Chinese Parents of Children with Autism from America, Macau, and Taiwan

Hsu-Min Chiang, Assistant Professor of Education, University of Macau

Moderated by: Qin Gao, Professor of Social Policy and Social Work; Director, China Center for Social Policy

Many studies have focused on parenting stress in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and high parenting stress in these parents is commonly reported. But limited studies have focused on parenting needs in parents of children with ASD, especially Chinese parents. Different parenting styles can be found in different cultures and different cultures may result in different parenting needs. In this lecture, Dr. Hsu-Min Chiang will present her study focusing on the needs of parents of children with ASD in the United States, Macau, and Taiwan in support services to help them reduce parenting stress and improve their children’s functioning. The audience will learn about these parents’ needs and the differences between Chinese American parents and non-American Chinese parents in support services. She will also share her clinical experiences and some practical strategies when providing support to Chinese parents across different countries.

Register here. Online via Zoom.

Cosponsored by the Wetherhead East Asian Institute, the Columbia China Center for Social Policy, and the Columbia School of Social Work

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