16.00–17.30: Nippon Foundation Building
10.00–11.30: NIDS, 2-2-1 Nakameguro, Meguro-ku
14.15–15.45: JIIA, 3rd Floor, Toranomon Mitsui Building, Kasumigaseki, Chiyodaku
To mark the release of the first volume of the Japanese edition of When China Rules the World, Martin Jacques will be undertaking a promotional tour of Japan.
Martin Jacques will speak at two sessions:
10:30-11:45: China-US Strategic (Dis)trust
15:30-16:45: Future of the International Liberal Order
He will also deliver a lecture for the young scholars at the Plenum conference.
11.00: Congress House, Great Russell Street
April 10th, 15.30–16.45: Inspirations from Classical Wisdom: Talking to Asian Gurus — panelists include Martin Jacques
April 11th, 16.30–18.00: Public Diplomacy and National Image — panelists include Martin Jacques
Will China Dominate The 21st Century?
by Jonathan Fenby
(Polity Press, £9.99)
BEN CHACKO reviews Jonathan Fenby’s latest analysis of China’s chances
JONATHAN FENBY is one of Britain’s more knowledgeable China-watchers and his latest work on the subject deserves attention.
The book, however, ought really to take the title of its final chapter — Why China Will Not Dominate the 21st Century.
It reads rather like a refutation of Martin Jacques’s When China Rules the World, mirroring the latter even to the extent that both contain a section quoting attitude surveys “proving” that positive or negative views of China are the norm worldwide.
In this it is quite effective. Fenby relentlessly highlights China’s weaknesses, and in many respects he is right — right that China is nowhere near displacing the US as a global superpower, right that there is scant evidence that it wants to, right that it faces serious economic, political and environmental challenges which will keep its politicians’ focus firmly on their own country and not on attempts to become a world leader.
On Tuesday 11th March, Martin Jacques argued for the motion that Democracy is Not Always the Best Form of Government in a debate televised by BBC World News. Speaking for the motion with him was Rosemary Hollis, Professor of Middle East Policy Studies and Director of the Olive Tree Scholarship Programme at City University; speaking against the motion were the American political scientist Ian Bremmer, and the Ukranian MP Andriy Shevchenko. “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried” — So said Winston Churchill. And who would disagree? But is the assumption that democracy always leads to a more liberal and tolerant society correct? Many would argue that it can lead to quite illiberal outcomes especially where there is profound ethnic division. Take for example Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosevic – the democratically elected president – left a legacy of more than 200,000 dead in Bosnia and ethnically cleansed more than 800,000 Albanians from their homes in Kosovo. And what if democracy were installed in Syria? It’s not hard to imagine the outcome for the minority groups who for decades have enjoyed the protection of Assad’s regime. Is democracy always the best outcome?