Past Asia in Focus Speakers

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Asia in Focus Speaker Series -- 2011 line-up

Tuesday, November 8th

Ekstrom Library, Room W104
Dr. Philip Howard, University of Washington

“The Digital Origins of Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam”

Philip N. Howard is associate professor of communication, information and international studies at the University of Washington. His 2011 book, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Oxford University Press) has been widely praised for its insightful and timely analysis of the role of technology in political transformation. He is an expert in information technology and social/political development and recently returned from Tunisia where he served as an election observer. Currently, he directs the NSF-funded Project on Information Technology and Political Islam (www.pitpi.org).

Friday, October 21

Ekstrom Library, Room W104
Dr. Matthew Carlson, Univ. of Vermont

“Money and Scandal in Japanese Politics”

Matthew Carlson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont. He specializes in Asian politics, public opinion, electoral systems, and human rights. Recent publications include Money Politics in Japan: New Rules, Old Practices (Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2007) and “Financing Democracy in Japan: The Allocation and Consequences of Government Subsidies to Political Parties,” forthcoming in Party Politics.

Tuesday, September 13th

Ekstrom Library, Room W104
Dr. Dan Slater, University of Chicago

"Losing Leviathan? Strong-State Democratization in Malaysia and Singapore"

Dan Slater is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His book manuscript examining how divergent historical patterns of contentious politics have shaped variation in state power and authoritarian durability in seven Southeast Asian countries, entitled Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia, was published in the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics series in 2010. He is also a co-editor of Southeast Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region, and Qualitative Analysis (Stanford University Press, 2008), which assesses the contributions of Southeast Asian political studies to theoretical knowledge in comparative politics. His published articles can be found in disciplinary journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, American Journal of Sociology, Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, and Studies in Comparative International Development, as well as more area-oriented journals such as Indonesia, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, and the Taiwan Journal of Democracy. He has recently received four best-article awards and two best-paper awards from various organized sections of the American Political Science Association and American Sociological Association.

Feb. 23rd: Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, University of Kentucky

"The Evolution of U.S.-Chinese-Vietnamese Relations from the Cold War to the Present: A Historian’s Perspective"

Go here for a summary of Dr. Nguyen's talk

Jan. 28th: Gardner Bovingdon, Indiana University

Topic: "Hu knows the answer to China's national question? Nationalism, national identity and political reform in China'