As the US gears up for the 'great power competition' with China, accurate translation of Chinese sources is increasingly important. Different translations can lead to different inferences about intentions, which in turn can affect policy analysis. In this talk Professor Johnston looks at a key inference in recent US policy documents about China’s long-term intentions, an inference that is based, in part, on a problematic translation and decontextualization of key phrases in a speech by China’s leader, Xi Jinping.

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Ros Atkins is a BBC news presenter, host of Outside Source and founder of the 50:50 Project. In December, his explainer about the alleged No 10 Downing Street Christmas Party went viral.

This series is an opportunity for DPIR DPhils to present their work in progress and gather feedback.

https://zoom.us/j/97023514597?pwd=c01kNms5b1JJQlR4c21zTitOOFhjZz09#success

Overcoming America’s deep partisan polarization poses a unique challenge: Americans must be able to disagree on policy while nonetheless agreeing on more fundamental democratic principles. We study one model of depolarization—reciprocal group reflection—inspired by marital counseling and implemented by a non-governmental organization, Braver Angels. We randomly assigned undergraduate students at four universities in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, and Midwest either to participate in a Braver Angels workshop or simply to complete three rounds of surveys.

The talk is based on a chapter discussing the links between pre-communist social structure and post-communist voting patterns among the middle class from her forthcoming book The Estate Origins of Democracy in Russia: From Imperial Bourgeoisie to Post-Communist Middle-Class (coming out with Cambridge University Press in 2022). The book departs from classic accounts in historical political economy and comparative politics that analyze the significance of the bourgeoisie from the perspective of coalitional dynamics and role in genesis of particular orders—democracy or autocracy.