In Egypt in 2011, what was by all accounts a free and fair democratic election resulted in the victory of Mohammed Morsi, a controversial figure whose brief rule ended last week after being overthrown by the Egyptian military. With Western media outlets largely stepping in to support this coup d'etat, the events have raised questions about popular commitment to democratic reforms worldwide, and raised questions about what this implies for the future of even gradualist democratic reforms in China.This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn are delighted to be joined by Anthony Kuhn, longtime China correspondent for NPR who has recently reported on developments throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Joining him is Sinica stalwart David Moser, the most renaissance of renaissance men in Beijing, and director of the CET immersion program at Capital Normal University.Enjoy Sinica? If you've been listening for a while, you should know that you can always download the latest episodes of Sinica either from our custom Sinica RSS feed or individually from our site as standalone mp3 files like this one. And if you have any suggestions or comments, write us anytime at sinica@popupchinese.com.
Sinica
said on July 15, 2013
MentionsAfter the Coup in Cairo, editorial at The Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324399404578583932317286550.html#articleTabs=articleDefending the Coup, by David Brooks for The New York Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/opinion/brooks-defending-the-coup.html?_r=0Arab Spring: political islam or democracy? by Wajahat Qazi for openDemocracyhttp://www.opendemocracy.net/wajahat-qazi/arab-spring-political-islam-or-democracyThoughts on River Elegy, June 1988-June 2011 by David Moser for The China Beathttp://www.thechinabeat.org/?p=3607>http://www.thechinabeat.org/?p=3607Eric X. Li: A tale of two political systems at TED Talkshttp://www.ted.com/talks/eric_x_li_a_tale_of_two_political_systems.htmlChina: Fragile Power by Susan Shirkhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/0195373197RecommendationsAnthony: Modern China-Myanmar Relations: Dilemmas of Mutual Dependence (2012) by Fan Hongwei and George Steinberghttp://www.amazon.com/Modern-China-Myanmar-Relations-Dependence-Institute/dp/8776940969David:The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why by Richard Nisbetthttp://www.amazon.com/Geography-Thought-Asians-Westerners-Differently/dp/0743255356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373544232&sr=1-1Jeremy:Downloading your tweetshttps://blog.twitter.com/2012/your-twitter-archiveKaiser:Beijing State of Mind, by Mark Griffithhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x3axAVFj-lo
julias
said on July 24, 2013
Personally, I don't see how corruption or abuse of powers can be exposed and expunged without a Free Press. Self-policing is NEVER effective. Just an example, the board that regulates Energy in China is almost completely made up of coal etc. state company heads. They very clearly need to renovate or better yet knock down old facilities, however due to cost, refuse. Without participation in politics by the injured parties, how could change be forced on perpetrators that are the financial beneficiaries? Maybe the "American source of Democracy" is not the right prescription for China, but the basic bill of rights are for the most part required for a stable Democracy. Are all of them required? Maybe not. As I understand, in Europe, the 5th Amendment and not self-incrimination is not available and police abuse of suspects can often be severe: such as forced confessions, physical harm, etc.
julias
said on July 24, 2013
I would liken Chinese form of "Democracy" to a comparison of true Capitalism versus Oligopoly. In True Capitalism each person and company participates with an equal chance at success and only intelligence, diligence, perseverance, as well as perhaps negotiation to access of resources means your success or failure. In Oligopoly, only certain key players, groups or families can come to the playing field and ability or skill plays very little part, the entire playing field is extremely limited compared to the rest of the population and rewards are severely unevenly distributed. The participants in the Oligopoly warp supply and demand especially in terms of labor and compensation as well as access to resources resulting in inefficiencies as well as systemic weaknesses.Now, I am not saying that the US (& EU) are anywhere near a True Capitalist Market & certainly not a True Democracy, but I think we are quite a bit closer than China. I know I am over-simplifying & I don't have an Masters in anything let alone a PhD, but this is my humble (well, maybe not so humble) opinion.
huyilin
said on July 25, 2013
Awsome song and video at the end! Love it.
