Catalyst Workshop on Policymaking in East Asia
College of East Asian Studies
Wesleyan University
May 19-20, 2017
Summary:
The workshop will be a catalyzing event designed to generate publications on policymaking in East Asia, enhance the careers of “next generation” scholars, and build scholarly networks. It is primarily aimed connecting members the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Scholars, the Public Intellectual Program (US-China), and the U.S.-Korea Scholar Policymaker Nexus. It also aims to strengthen the research and teaching capacity of social scientists teaching at liberal arts colleges by connecting them to these scholarly networks. Finally, our substantive focus is on a variety of policy issues, so we also hope that our research findings may also have a positive influence on public policy.
Description:
There are currently three separate scholarly networks that are aimed at “next generation” scholars of China, Japan, and Korea. The National Committee on US-China Relations launched the Public Intellectuals Program in 2005 to foster the next generation of China specialists in the United States. In 2010 the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation in collaboration with the Japan Foundation’s Center for Global Partnership launched The US-Japan Network for the Future to nurture Japan scholars. Finally, in 2013 the Korea Foundation and the Mansfield Foundation created the US-Korea Scholar Policymaker Nexus program. All three programs select a small group of “next generation” scholars and policymakers to participate in a set of intensive workshops over the course of two years. The goal in all three cases is to promote the connections between policymakers in the national capitals and scholars who work on relevant issues related to China, Japan, and Korea.
However, none of the three networks promote collaboration across the East Asian countries, even though many of the members work on multiple countries (indeed some scholars belong to more than one network). Furthermore, in all cases there has been a focus on the “hard” foreign policy issues of trade and security, which are particularly difficult to gain agreement among the four countries (China, Japan, Korea, and the US). And yet, each of the three networks contains a sizable contingent of scholars who work on domestic policy issues such as social welfare, immigration, environment, innovation policy etc., which are much easier issues for international collaboration and cross-national policy transfer.
Although the political environments of the four countries are very different, we have already found commonalities in some aspects of policy development, policy implementation, and policy transfer. All three countries have civil society networks that work closely with relevant bureaucracies to generate and implement policy in their areas of interest. All three countries have elaborate mechanisms to develop and experiment with policy innovation at the local level and then disseminate effective policies horizontally to other local governments and then vertically to national government. However, scholars’ capacity to study these cross-national commonalities across countries is limited. For example, it is common for scholars of China and Korea to be unaware of relevant policymaking processes in Japan. Our expectation is that by exposing the scholars of China and Korea to scholarship about Japan, the workshop will inspire and assist them to include Japan as a component of their future research agendas. Similarly, those of us who work on Japan will be able to produce better and more widely-read research by understanding more about related policy processes in China and Korea.
We are calling this a catalyst workshop because one of its main functions is to act as a catalyst for publication. Rather than proposing a single edited volume or special issue of a journal, we are requiring all participants to bring a fairly polished article to the workshop. All participants will be engaged in reading their colleagues’ manuscripts prior to arrival, so the sessions will be much less about presenting material than offering constructive feedback. We will brainstorm placement of the manuscripts to maximize impact. If it turns out that several of the manuscripts fit together, we may propose a special issue of a journal in addition to individual submissions. It is anticipated that all participants will produce a publication by a year from the time the workshop is held. Furthermore, it is likely that the workshop will generate new collaborative projects that will result in additional publications down the line.
Finally, a normative aspiration of this workshop is to enhance the diplomatic relationships among Japan, Korea, China, and the United States. Unlike the “hard” areas of trade and security, the areas of public policy that we study are places where productive and meaningful collaboration already exist and have considerable room to grow. Our hope is that by studying these positive-sum policy areas we can contribute to the improvement of multilateral relations in the region.
Schedule
Friday May 19, 2017–Radisson Hotel, Cromwell
5-6 Welcome reception
- 6-8 Dinner with Keynote speaker—Ezra Vogel, Henry Ford II Professor of Social Science Emeritus, Harvard University
Saturday May 20–College of East Asian Studies, Wesleyan University
8:00-8:10 Pick up at Hotel, Travel to Wesleyan (Wesleyan Shuttle busses or car)
8:10-8:40 Breakfast
8:40-10 Panel 1: Social Welfare, Health, Gender, and Immigration Policy
- Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Professor of Political Science, DePaul University, “Biomedical Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Asia: traditional medicine in modern policy and human health”
- Linda Hasunuma, Assistant Professor of Government, Franklin and Marshall College, “The Politics of Care in Japan and South Korea: Gender, Civil Society, and Women’s Activism”
- Reo Matsuzaki, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Trinity College, “State-building through Societal Mediation: A Comparative Analysis of Taiwan and the Philippines under Colonial Rule.”
- John Davis, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Denison College, “Affirmative Action in East Asia: A Case from Japan”
- Ki-Young Shin, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Science, Ochanomizu University, “Mainstreaming Gender in Policy-making Process in Japan and South Korea”
- Paul Chang, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Harvard University, “Hypergamy or Homogamy? Status Differential and Marital Satisfaction among Foreign Brides in Korea”
- Aram Hur, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wagner School of Public Service, NYU, “Rethinking Approaches to Political Assimilation: Identity and Loyalty in North Korean Defectors”
- Kimberley Manning, Associate Professor of Political Science, Concordia, “The Party Family: A Comparative Framework of Analysis”
10-10:15 Break
10:15-11:30 Panel 2: Grassroots Governance, Civic Activism and Policymaking
- Mary Alice Haddad, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University, “NGOs and Environmental Policy Networks in East Asia”
- Ying Jia Tan, Assistant Professor of History, Wesleyan University, “Technological Diplomacy: Tennessee Valley Authority and Hydropower Development in Modern China, 1942-1959”
- Jessica Teets, Associate Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College, “Water Wars in China: Intergovernmental Negotiations over Eco-Compensation Mechanisms for Watershed Management”
- Iza Ding, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Pittsburgh University, “Performative governance in China’s environmental policy”
- Joan Cho, Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Korean Political Economy, Wesleyan University, “Dissidents to Politicians: Public Perceptions of Former Pro-democracy Activists as Political Actors in South Korea”
- Celeste Arrington, Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University, “Lobbying, Litigating, and Legislating to Advance the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Japan and South Korea”
- Kerry Ratigan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Amherst College, “Critical Vanguards? The Perceptions Gap between Local Leaders and Villagers in China”
11:30-12:30 Lunch—Publishing Panel
- Roger Haydon, Cornell University Press
- Bill Finan, Brookings Institution
- Hyung-Gu Lynn, Pacific Affairs
12:30-1:50 Panel 3: Trade and Security Policy
- Liv Coleman, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Tampa, “Cyber-security policy in Japan”
- Mark Manyin Asian Affairs Specialist, U.S. Congressional Research Service, “Transformation and continuity in U.S. Northeast Asia policy.”
- Kristin Vekasi, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maine, “China+1 as Political Risk Management and Economic Catalyst”
- June Park, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, “Making Voices Heard on Stakes: Petitions and Institutional Variance in Trade Remedy Measures in Northeast Asia”
- Andrew Yeo, Associate Professor of Politics, Catholic University, “Three Varieties of Institutionalism and East Asian Regionalism”
- Seung-Youn Oh, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Bryn Mawr, “China’s Race to the Top: Upgrading the Industrial Structure and Advancing the FDI Lifecycle in Coastal Provinces”
- Yinan He, Associate Professor of International Relations, Lehigh University, “The First About-face: Social Mobilization, Domestic Enemies and Anti-Americanism in China, 1950-1953”
- Sean Connell, Director of Trade and Economic Development, Snohomish County, WA“U.S.-Japan Subnational Relations”
1:50-2:00 Break
2:15-4:30 Workshop: Making Your Research Visible Online; BrandNu Consulting
4:30-4:45 Break
4:45-6 Wrapping up
6-6:15 Travel to dinner in downtown Middletown (carpool)
6:30-8 Farewell Dinner
