Nonprofits in
China Domain Event
China’s Think Tanks:
Roles and Implications for the Civil Society in
China
A Panel Discussion With:
James G.
McGann
Presenter
Director, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, Foreign
Policy Research Institute
Assistant Director, International Relations Program,
University of Pennsylvania
Xufeng
Zhu
Respondent
Visiting Scholar, Harvard Yenching Institute
Associate professor from Nankai University of
China
Xijin
Jia
Commentator
Associate Professor at Tsinghua University of China;
Visiting Scholar, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations
Julian
Chang
Moderator
Executive Director, Asia Programs, Ash Institute at Harvard
Kennedy School
May 1,
2009
11:00 AM - 12:30
PM
Light
Refreshments
Taubman Building 5th
Floor, Room NYE C, Harvard Kennedy School
The role of think tanks in China’s political system has
generated great interest within and outside China. Based on
his recent research of 76 think tanks from China mainland
and long time research on think tanks all over the world,
Dr. McGann will discuss about the roles and the future of
the think tanks in China from a comparative perspective.
The talk will focus on how think tanks as a civil society
entity participate in or influence policy making in China,
and how their roles are changing the political dynamics
that possibly allows for more space for the civil
organizations in China. Dr. Xufeng Zhu will then, based on
the research from his nationwide survey data of think tanks
conducted in 2004, respond to Dr. McGann’s speech, and
further explore the reasons and social consequences for the
unique status of China’s think tanks. Professor Xijin Jia
will comment then comment on the two different research
approaches proceeding from China’s unique social and
political environment, and further probe the status and
path of those think tanks as nonprofits or NGOs.
About the
Speakers
Presenter:
James G. McGann, Ph.D. is a reverent scholar on think
tanks. He has recently finished a research, Think Tanks and
Civil Society in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Among his 7 books on think tanks are The International Survey of Think
Tanks (FPRI,
1999), Think Tanks
and Civil Societies: Catalyst for Ideas and
Action, co-edited
with Kent B. Weaver (Transaction Publishers 2000),
Comparative Think Tanks,
Politics, and Public Policy (Edward Elgar 2005), Global Trends and Transitions: 2007
Survey of Think Tanks (FPRI 2008) and The Global Go To Think Tanks
(2008). Over the last 15 years he has taught
courses in International Law, International Relations,
International Organizations, Comparative Public Policy
and Global Knowledge and Policy Networks on a regular
basis. Among his positions, he has served as President
of McGann Associates, a program and management
consulting firm, the Senior Vice-President for the
Executive Council on Foreign Diplomacy, the Public
Policy Program Officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts,
the Assistant Director of the Institute of Politics of
HKG.
Respondent:
Xufeng Zhu, PhD, Associate
Professor at the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai
University, is the author of a forthcoming Chinese language
book entitled China’s Think Tanks: Research on
Their Influence in the Policymaking
Process. He got
his bachelor degree in engineering and doctorate in public
policy from Tsinghua University in China, in 2000 and 2005.
His major research interests in China studies are the
policy process, China’s think tanks, policy analyses, and
social stratification in transitional China. His recent
publications include articles in Public Administration and
Development, Policy Sciences, Asian Survey, and Social
Sciences in China (in Chinese), among others. He is
presently a weekly columnist for Hong Kong News Daily. He
was selected in the “New Century Excellent Talents
Supporting Program” by the Ministry of Education of China.
Commentator:
Xijin Jia, PhD, Research
Fellow at the Hauser Center, Associate Professor at
Tsinghua University in China. Her research area is Civil
Society and Governance, focusing on comparative studies,
citizen participation, NGO-Government relationships, and
political reform in transforming countries. Professor Jia
has extensive experience in field research and pilot
studies on civil society in China. She has been the Task
Leader for the Government Procurement Project for ADB, and
the National Coordinator for the international comparative
program of Civil Society Index. She has published 4 books,
and more than 40 articles. Professor Jia received her PhD
at Peking University with a major in Sociology, and Master
and Bachelor Degree of Medicine at Beijing Medical
University. She has two years experience as an intern in
Mental Health Hospital with a major in Social Psychiatry.
Moderator:
Julian Chang has served as
the executive director of Asia Programs at the Ash
Institute since July 2001 and director of the Kansai Keizai
Doyukai Program since 2002. He received his Ph.D. in
political science from the Department of Government at
Harvard University. At Harvard, Chang served as residential
dean of Cabot House from 1993 to 1996, and worked in the
University Development Office. He received his B.A. from
Yale University and received a Yale-China fellowship to
teach at Wuhan University, China. In 1996, Chang went west
to Stanford to become assistant director of the Center for
East Asian Studies. In 1997, he helped to establish the
Stanford Asia/Pacific Scholars Program, a university-wide
fellowship program for graduate students from Asia. He
joined Stanford’s Asia Pacific Research Center (A/PARC) as
deputy director in the fall of 1998. His research interests
include Sino-Soviet/Russian relations, communications, and
mass media in China.
Read Notes of the panel
Think Tanks' Roles and Implications for
Civil Society in China
Related PDF
Downloads
James G.
McGann
Draft: Think Tanks And Civil Society In Mainland
China, Hong Kong, And Taiwan
Xufeng Zhu
Strategy of Chinese Policy Entrepreneurs in
The Third
Sector
Xufeng Zhu and Lan
Xue
Think Tanks In Transitional China
