EASC Express

EASC to co-sponsor March 27 film screening of South Korean crime thriller

The South Korean crime thriller, "Memories of Murder" (2003), will be shown on Wednesday, March 27, at 7 p.m. at the Gateway Film Center. EASC faculty affiliate Julia Keblinska will give remarks about the film beforehand.

This event is part of the International Film Series hosted by the Office of International Affairs and the Global Engagement team.

Yan Jin to present on foreign wars, government in Russian history on April 11

Abstract: 具有对外扩张、对内专制两大传统的俄罗斯，历史上多次宪政过程均与战败相关，而战胜则导致专制复归与强化。俄法1812年战争、克里米亚战争、日俄战争、第一次世界大战、阿富汗战争均如此。民主国家与其抱怨其“民主倒退”，不如挫其侵略。正是西方的绥靖，使其在格鲁吉亚、克里米亚、顿巴斯、叙利亚一次次得手，使得普京越来越成为“新沙皇”。有些人被误导以为普京要恢复苏联，其实普京每次侵略前几乎都会大骂苏共。他要恢复的是帝俄再版。这场讲座聚焦于俄国历史上内政与外交之间的张力，并着重强调其对于如今乌克兰战争的启示。

Russia, with its two traditions of external expansion and internal authoritarianism, has a history of constitutional processes linked to defeats in foreign wars, while victories have led to the return and strengthening of authoritarianism: the Russo-French War of 1812, the Crimean War, the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War, and the war in Afghanistan. Instead of complaining about Russia’s "democratic regression", democracies in the world should be frustrated by the Russian aggression. It is the West's appeasement that has enabled it to win again and again in Georgia, Crimea, Donbas, and Syria, increasingly making Putin the "new tsar" of Russia. Some people are misled into thinking that Putin wants to restore the Soviet Union, but in fact Putin almost always curses the Soviet Communist Party before each invasion. What he wants to restore is a replica of Imperial Russia. This lecture focuses on the tension between domestic and foreign affairs in Russian history and highlights its implications on the war in Ukraine today.

Hui Qin to present on China's "low human rights advantage" on April 11

Abstract: 新世纪这一波经济全球化后果出人意料。秦晖教授在2005年提出“低人权优势”来解释全球化带来的相关问题，在中国学界和舆论界引起激烈讨论。“低人权优势”指的是除了低工资、低福利的传统优势外，中国更以“低人权”的“优势”人为压低人力、土地、资金和非再生资源的价格，以不许讨价还价、限制乃至取消许多交易权利的办法“降低交易成本”，以压抑参与、漠视思想、信仰和公正、刺激物欲来促使人的能量集中于海市蜃楼式的单纯求富冲动，从而显示出无论自由市场国家还是福利国家都罕见的惊人竞争力，也使得无论采用“渐进”的还是“休克疗法”的民主转轨国家都瞠乎其后。这场讲座将细致阐述中国“低人权优势”在中国崛起中的作用和给全球化带来的问题，以及这对于中美关系所带来的复杂影响。秦晖教授将以纵深的角度阐释“低人权优势”在历史上并不罕见，并倡议民主支持者认真面对其所带来的严峻挑战。

Consequences of the new wave of economic globalization of our century have been unexpected. Professor QIN Hui's 2005 proposed concept of "low human rights advantage" was an explanation for the problems brought about by globalization and has led to heated discussions in the Chinese public and among Chinese intellectuals. The term "low human rights advantage" refers to the fact that in addition to its traditional advantages of low wages and low welfare, China has also used its "low human rights" advantage to artificially lower the prices of human labor, land, capital and non-renewable resources, to "lower transaction costs" by disallowing bargaining and restricting or even eliminating many rights of exchange, and to focus people's energies on the mirage-like impulse of simply seeking wealth by repressing participation, disregarding ideas, beliefs and justice, and stimulating materialistic desires. The result of this is an astonishing competitiveness that is rare for either a free-market country or a welfare state. This level of competitiveness has also left democratic-transition countries, whether they have adopted "gradualism" or "shock therapy," in the dust. This lecture will address in detail the role of China's "low human rights advantage" in China's rise and the problems it poses for globalization, as well as its complex implications for U.S.-China relations. In his analysis, Prof. Qin will argue that the "low human rights advantage" is not uncommon in history and will advocate that supporters of democracy take seriously the severe challenges that “low human rights advantage” poses.

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