Key Issues Facing East Asia – (Video Interview with Dr. Tun-jen Cheng)
Memo #67 – In this interview, Dr. Tun-jen Cheng discusses a range of key issues facing East Asia today, including religion, governance, economics, and politics. When speaking about a religious revival in China, Dr. Cheng notes that Christianity is accepted by many new middle class urbanites as a source of inspiration and a symbol of modernity and greatness. Dr. Cheng then gives an account of the challenges facing East Asian democracies. Most notably, he mentions the public’s complaints about the shortage of horizontal accountability – the checks and balances between various branches and units of government. Nonetheless, he concludes that East Asian democracies are quite robust when compared to systems in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Gender Issues in the Hindu Tradition
Memo #31 – Dr. Mandakranta Bose is a professor emerita at the Institute of Asian Research (IAR) at UBC. Her recent book, Women in the Hindu Tradition: Rules, Roles and Exceptions was the subject of an October interview in the Institute’s Behind the Book series.