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This week: Part 2 in a series of podcasts in conjunction with the China Research Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The series, titled "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Rediscovering a Lost Art," ran from September to November 2021, and featured four eminent "Pekingologists," or specialists in Chinese elite politics: Joseph Fewsmith, Thomas Fingar, Alice Miller, and Fred Teiwes. The talks were later published in a volume you can download here. The series is introduced by Andrew Mertha, George and Sadie Hyman, Professor of China Studies and director of the SAIS China Research Center, and each lecture includes a moderated discussion with Andy. After this series, I'll also be sharing with you a second series of lectures titled "Studying China from Elsewhere," which will include talks by Maria Repnikova, Mike Lampton, William Hurst, and Maggie Lewis — many of whom Sinica listeners will know from the show.Alice Lyman Miller is a leading scholar of Chinese politics and foreign policy. A research fellow at the Hoover Institution and lecturer in East Asian Studies at Stanford University, she previously served as an analyst at the CIA and editor of China Leadership Monitor. Miller's work has been instrumental in decoding the opaque world of Chinese elite politics, with a particular focus on political discourse and leadership transitions. Her major publications include Becoming Asia: Change and Continuity in Asian International Relations Since World War II (2011).Joseph Fewsmith is one of the foremost experts on contemporary Chinese politics, known for his in-depth analysis of political reform, elite competition, and policy shifts under the Chinese Communist Party. A professor of international relations and political science at Boston University, Fewsmith has authored seminal books such as China Since Tiananmen: The Politics of Transition (2001) and Rethinking Chinese Politics (2021), which challenge conventional wisdom on China's political system. His work blends rigorous historical analysis with close readings of official discourse. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, I bring you the first in a series of podcasts in conjunction with the China Research Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The series, titled "Studying China in the Absence of Access: Rediscovering a Lost Art," ran from September to November 2021, and featured four eminent "Pekingologists," or specialists in Chinese elite politics: Joseph Fewsmith, Thomas Fingar, Alice Miller, and Fred Teiwes. The talks were later published in a volume you can download here. The series is introduced by Andrew Mertha, George and Sadie Hyman, Professor of China Studies and director of the SAIS China Research Center, and each lecture includes a moderated discussion with Andy. After this series, I'll also be sharing with you a second series of lectures titled "Studying China from Elsewhere," which will include talks by Maria Repnikova, Mike Lampton, William Hurst, and Maggie Lewis — many of whom Sinica listeners will know from the show.This week's talk is from FrederickTeiwes, truly a legend in the field. The American-born Australian sinologist is best known for his analysis of Chinese Communist Party elite politics. He served as a professor emeritus in Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney until his retirement in 2006. Teiwes has frequently collaborated with Warren Sun, producing seminal works such as The Tragedy of Lin Biao (1996) and China's Road to Disaster: Mao, Central Politicians and Provincial Leaders in the Great Leap Forward, 1955-59 (1999). In this talk, he focuses on forthcoming work on the transition following Mao Zedong's death in 1976.Great thanks to Andy and to Hasta Colman, who first suggested this collaboration when we met in Shanghai recently.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Danny and Derek welcome to the podcast Maria Repnikova, associate professor in global communication at Georgia State University, to talk about China's use of so-called “soft power”. They explore the origin of the phrase and what Maria means by it, Confucius Institutes, public diplomacy, Chinese efforts to build a global media network, how the US frames these initiatives, and what kind of image China might be trying to project. Be sure to pick up a copy of Maria's book of the same name. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.americanprestigepod.com/subscribe
On this episode of American Prestige, Danny and Derek welcome to the podcast Maria Repnikova, associate professor in global communication at Georgia State University, to talk about China's use of so-called “soft power”. They explore the origin of the phrase and what Maria means by it, Confucius Institutes, public diplomacy, Chinese efforts to build a global media network, how the US frames these initiatives, and what kind of image China might be trying to project.You can find Maria's book of the same name here.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
This week on Sinica, a live recording from New York on the eve of the 2023 NEXTChina Conference. Jeremy Goldkorn joins Kaiser as co-host, with guests Maria Repnikova of Georgia State University, who specializes in Chinese soft power in Africa and on Sino-Russian relations, and Eric Olander, co-founder of the China Global South Project and co-host of the excellent China Global South Podcast and China in Africa Podcast. This show is unedited to preserve the live feel!Recommendations: Jeremy: Empire podcast William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, about how empires rise, fall, and shape the world around usMaria: A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy by Nathan ThrallEric: Eat Bitter, a documentary by Ningyi Sun, a filmmaker from China, and Pascale Appora Gnekindy, from the Central African RepublicKaiser: Wellness, an ambitious novel by Nathan Hill about a Gen X couple in Wicker Park, Chicago; and the NOVA documentary Inside China's Tech Boom, of which Kaiser is correspondent, narrator, and co-producer.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, a bonus episode to keep you caught up on the week's biggest China story: Xi Jinping's two days of meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Maria Repnikova, a Latvian-born native Russian speaker who is also fluent in Chinese and who teaches Chinese politics and communications at Georgia State University, joins the show again to talk about what each side hoped for, what each side got, and the asymmetries of power on conspicuous display in Moscow.1:53 – Does Beijing look at the Ukraine War and still see the United States, as Maria argued last year?3:06 – How Xi and Putin spoke to their own domestic audiences, and to each other's4:43 – How the Xi-Putin meeting was viewed in the Global South8:10 – Why was the elephant in the room go mostly unremarked upon?10:27 – Junior partner, senior partner, and “optionality”16:27 – Did Putin come away disappointed from the meeting?18:03 – How did China's peace framework come off in the West vs. in China?21:11 – What might the United States have done differently — and what might it still do to prevent China from drifting too close to Russia?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Maria: Solomon Elusoji, Travelling with Big Brother: A Reporter's Junket in China Kaiser: The Polish progressive rock band Riverside, and its latest album ID.EntitySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
China has grand plans for Africa. It has pledged to increase its investment in the continent, thus "narrowing the North-South gap and supporting and assisting other developing countries in accelerating development." But given China's own relatively slow rate of economic growth, can it afford to do this? And how should African nations weigh up the costs and benefits of teaming up with China? In this podcast, Maria Repnikova, Associate Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University, explains what she has learned during field work in China and Ethiopia. The presenter is Zuri Linetsky, research fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation in Washington, DC.
Juliet and Erik are joined by Maria Repnikova to talk about her book, "Chinese soft power," Confucius Institutes, China's love for spectacle, and of course, how all this and more applies to the Belt and Road. What is soft power? How is China doing when it comes to soft power projection around the world? Listen to find out!Maria Repnikova is the Director of the Center for Global Information Studies and an Assistant Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University. She is a scholar of global communication, with a comparative focus on China and Russia. Her research examines the processes of political resistance and persuasion in illiberal political contexts, drawing on ethnographic research in the field. Dr. Repnikova holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. Her book, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism examines participatory communications channels under an authoritarian regime through the relationship between China's critical journalists and the one-party state in the past decade. Recommendations:Maria:Baykurt, Burcu and Victoria de Grazia (ed.) Soft-Power Internationalism: Competing for Cultural Influence in the 21st-Century Global Order (2021).Erik:Pekingology Podcast from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) with Jude Blanchette, specifically these two episodes:Terror Capitalism with Darren Byler Localized Bargaining with Xiao MaThe Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder's new docu-comedy series on HBOJuliet:Qi, Jeffrey and Peter Dauvergne. China and the global politics of nature-based solutions. Environmental Science and Policy (2022).*Bonus: The Belt and Road Sing Along Music Video*
Professor Joseph Nye, who served in the Clinton and Carter administrations, came up with the term 'soft power' over thirty years ago, to describe a means of increasing international influence not through military or economic force but through attraction and persuasion. At that point, with the Cold War coming to an end, the United States was undoubtedly the world's true soft power super-power, pushing its political values across the globe through a mixture of diplomacy and both popular and consumer culture. Since then, of course, much has changed, and Professor Nye considers how instances such as the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the isolationism of Donald Trump and the widespread reporting of mass shootings have tarnished America's soft power, while other countries both democratic and authoritarian have sought to push their own soft power credentials through music, sport and language. Nye talks with Gavin Esler about the role of soft power during the dying days of the Cold War, and Tony Blair's efforts to corral the UK's leading cultural figures in a bid to bolster its own soft power potential. Professor Ngaire Woods describes the importance of making sure soft power is implemented effectively in order to maintain a united front against Russia in Ukraine. Maria Repnikova charts the varying fortunes of China and South Korea in their sustained efforts to extend their influence through soft power, and Frank Cottrell Boyce recalls the soft-power messages around, for example, the NHS and same-sex relationships that helped re-invent the image of Britain across the world. Produced by Geoff Bird
The US central bank has announced its biggest interest rate rise in nearly 30 years – raising its headline rate to a range between 1.5% and 1.75%. President and CEO of Carver Federal Savings Bank, Michael Pugh joins us from Harlem, New York City. We also hear from a restaurant and bakery owner in the US. China and Russia have agreed to deepen their strategic cooperation, Associate Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University, Maria Repnikova tells us why Beijing is looking to strengthen its relationship with Russia. Also on the programme, after 27 years, Microsoft is retiring Internet Explorer for good. Author of Retro Tech Peter Leigh tells us about its history and why it's coming to an end.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Chinese government has tried to walk a fine line of neutrality. It has abstained on UN resolutions and not condemned the Russian invasion or the slaughter of civilians. On the other hand, it has restated its support of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the UN Charter. State owned media and social media have often repeated Russia's propaganda to the great concern of the U.S. and European governments. Xiaoyu Pu and Maria Repnikova discuss China's international and domestic media coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the system behind this coverage, and its implications for U.S.-China relations during an interview conducted on April 18, 2022.
How is Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine redrawing the geopolitical landscape? In this episode, we examine China’s interests in the conflict and explore the limits of their ‘no limits’ agreement with Russia. To ask whether the geopolitical balance is shifting in favour of an ‘axis of autocracies’, Louisa and Graeme are joined by Alexander Gabuev, senior fellow and Russian chair in the Asia-Pacific Programme at the Carnegie Moscow Centre and Maria Repnikova, assistant professor in global communication at Georgia State University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I spoke to Dr. Maria Repnikova, author of "Chinese Soft Power" to discuss how Chinese and Russian State Media report on Ukraine to their domestic audiences. We also discuss Hong Kong, Aileen Gu, "Little Pinks", Patriarchy, Chomsky and "Wolf Warriors" For more of Dr. Repnikova's work you can see her website here: https://www.mariarepnikova.com/ Music by Scarim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vajWNeGy1Og
This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Maria Repnikova, assistant professor of global communications at Georgia State University, who recently published a short book under the Cambridge Elements series called Chinese Soft Power. A native Russian speaker who also reads and speaks Chinese, Maria has been a keen observer of China's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and offers her perspectives on Chinese media coverage of the war and the impact of China's pro-Russian tilt on Beijing's soft power ambitions. She recently co-authored a piece in The Atlantic arguing that China's apparent pro-Russian position is about one thing only: the United States and China's opposition to American unipolar hegemony.4:25 – Definitions of soft power: Joseph Nye's and China's8:49 – The Chinese discourse on soft power: three major schools14:09 – How talking about soft power allows the airing of hard truths23:24 – Chinese soft power in the global South37:49 – How badly has the Russo-Ukraine War eroded Chinese soft power?41:44 – How Russian media has been talking about China since the invasion of Ukraine began44:50 – Why China's pro-Russia lean is really all about America54:40 – Is Russia's media style the future of Chinese media? On the "RTification" of Chinese mediaA full transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Maria: Prototype Nation by Silvia Lindtner; and an anti-recommendation for the show Inventing Anna, which is streaming on NetflixKaiser: Season 5 of the show The Last Kingdom; and the sequel to Vikings, called Vikings: Valhalla. Both are on Netflix.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jason and Kuba speak with Maria Repnikova about her new book “Chinese Soft Power” out now from Cambridge University Press. https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Power.../dp/1108792685 Dr. Repnikova is a scholar of global communication, with a comparative focus on China and Russia. Her research examines the processes of political resistance and persuasion in illiberal political contexts, drawing on ethnographic research approaches and extensive time in the field. Maria holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. The courses taught at GSU include International Communication, Chinese Media, Politics and Society, and Communication in Global Contexts. About TIR Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron-only programming, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH! Become a patron now: https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, especially YouTube! THANKS Y'ALL YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast & www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland Pascal Robert in Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/obsession-black-white-wealth-gap... Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com Get the music featured on the show here: https://bitterlakeoakland.bandcamp.com/ Follow Djene Bajalan @djenebajalan Follow Kuba Wrzesniewski @DrKuba2
From the brutal invasion to the imposition of crippling economic sanctions – where are we now? What are Putin's goals? How is Europe responding? What should we read into China's reaction, and what are the implications for the Indo-Pacific? Natasha Kassam, Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute, hosted this conversation on International Women's Day with Dr Olga Oleinikova, Zoya Sheftalovich and Dr Maria Repnikova. Dr Olga Oleinikova is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney. Zoya Sheftalovich is a contributing editor at Politico and editor of Politico's Brussels and London Playbooks. Dr Maria Repnikova is an Assistant Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University and a Wilson Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Broadcast 8 March 2022 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/war-ukraine
Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China and Russia appeared to be growing ever closer. Russian President Vladimir Putin being one of a handful of known leaders to attend the Winter Olympics, where he signed a landmark strategic partnership with his counterpart, President Xi Jinping. Will that 'no limits' partnership survive Russia's newfound pariah status? In this live event, co-chair of the China Research Group Alicia Kearns MP was joined by Professor Sergey Radchenko, Dr Maria Repnikova and Bonny Lin. These three leading Sino-Russian experts set out the historical and geopolitical context of the China-Russia relationship and answered questions including: How reliant the strategic partnership is on the personal relationship between Putin and Xi How the invasion of Ukraine has been portrayed in Chinese and Russian media Whether Russia can accept being the junior partner in the relationship How the West's response to the invasion will shape China's thinking on Taiwan Find the full transcript of the event on our website.
This week on Masha and the Bears, Maria is joined by Kuba and Pascal to talk about some of the important world news stories that may have flown under your radar. These include China and the United States' competing democracy conferences, the ongoing crisis in Ethiopia, and recent protests against lockdowns in Guadalupe. Dr. Maria Repnikova is a scholar of global communication, with a comparative focus on China and Russia. Her research examines the processes of political resistance and persuasion in illiberal political contexts, drawing on ethnographic research approaches and extensive time in the field. Maria holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. The courses taught at GSU include International Communication, Chinese Media, Politics and Society, and Communication in Global Contexts. You can follow her @MariaRepnikova. About TIR Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron-only programming, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH! Become a patron now: https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, especially YouTube! THANKS Y'ALL YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast & www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland Pascal Robert in Black Agenda Report: https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/PascalRobert Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com Get the music from the show here: https://bitterlakeoakland.bandcamp.com/ Follow Djene Bajalan @djenebajalan Follow Kuba Wrzesniewski @DrKuba2
This week on Masha and the Bears, Maria is joined by Kuba and Pascal to talk about some of the important world news stories that may have flown under your radar. Dr. Maria Repnikova is a scholar of global communication, with a comparative focus on China and Russia. Her research examines the processes of political resistance and persuasion in illiberal political contexts, drawing on ethnographic research approaches and extensive time in the field. Maria holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She speaks fluent Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. The courses taught at GSU include International Communication, Chinese Media, Politics and Society, and Communication in Global Contexts. You can follow her @MariaRepnikova. About TIR Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron-only programming, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH! Become a patron now: https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, especially YouTube! THANKS Y'ALL YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast & www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland Pascal Robert in Black Agenda Report: https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/PascalRobert Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com Get the music from the show here: https://bitterlakeoakland.bandcamp.com/ Follow Djene Bajalan @djenebajalan Follow Kuba Wrzesniewski @DrKuba2
It is very difficult, if not impossible, right now to accurately public opinion perceptions of China in a region as large and diverse as Africa. There are strong indications that point in opposite directions. African leaders one after another shower China with praise for its ongoing support of infrastructure development and COVID-19 vaccine distribution among other activities. Meantime, civil society views of China in many African countries are seemingly becoming increasingly negative amid a steady stream of violent videos appearing on social media show abuse of local workers along with reports of illegal immigration and widespread environmental violations by Chinese companies.Maria Repnikova, an assistant professor at Georgia State University, closely follows these trends and has conducted extensive field research on the issue in Ethiopia and elsewhere. She joins Eric & Cobus from Atlanta to discuss current trends in Chinese soft power in Africa and why Chinese training junkets for African elites are proving to be especially effective.JOIN THE DISCUSSION:CAP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProjectTwitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @mariarepnikovaAmazon: Purchase a Kindle copy of Maria's book "Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism"SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHINA AFRICA PROJECTYour subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following:1. The world's only curated China-Africa News Feed with thousands of articles archive2. Exclusive analysis of the day's top stories about China in Africa and the Global South3. A copy of the popular China-Africa Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox by 6am Washington time M-FTry it free for 30-days and see if you like it. Subscriptions start at just $7 a month for students and teachers and $15 a month for everyone else. Subscribe here: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The pandemic has transformed the way we think about work and labor globally. In the US, many employees are unwilling to return to service jobs that underpay and provide limited benefits. In China, there is a recent phenomenon called “Lying flat” whereby young people refuse to partake in “productive forces” of the party, and instead choose to settle for non-careerist but more relaxed lifestyles. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated remote work that for many employees has also meant longer hours. In this episode we engage with the politics of labor and what pandemic means to us as workers, consumers and citizens. About our guest Maria Repnikova ( https://www.mariarepnikova.com/) Dr. Repnikova is an Assistant Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University. This year she is a Wilson Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholar. In the past, Maria was a postdoctoral fellow at the Project for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. She received her doctorate (DPhil) in Politics at the University of Oxford where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Thank you, guys, again for taking the time to check this out. We appreciate each and every one of you. If you have the means, and you feel so inclined, BECOME A PATRON! We're creating patron only programing, you'll get bonus content from many of the episodes, and you get MERCH! Become a patron now https://www.patreon.com/join/BitterLakePresents? Please also like, subscribe, and follow us on these platforms as well, (specially YouTube!) THANKS Y'ALL YouTube: www.youtube.com/thisisrevolutionpodcast Twitch: www.twitch.tv/thisisrevolutionpodcast www.twitch.tv/leftflankvets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Thisisrevolutionpodcast/ Twitter: @TIRShowOakland Instagram: @thisisrevolutionoakland The Dispatch on Zero Books (video essay series): https://youtu.be/nSTpCvIoRgw Medium: https://jasonmyles.medium.com/kill-the-poor-f9d8c10bc33d Pascal Robert's Black Agenda Report: https://www.blackagendareport.com/author/Pascal Robert Get THIS IS REVOLUTION Merch here: www.thisisrevolutionpodcast.com
The July 2021 centennial of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will be an important milestone in China, accompanied by media fanfare and celebration. As the Party promotes the story of its successes and accomplishments to its people and the world, what does it choose to minimize or ignore? Through the lenses of museums, traditional and new media, and political education in schools, we examined how China projects its image in a rapidly shifting global landscape. On June 24, 2021, the National Committee hosted a virtual discussion with Denise Ho, Karrie Koesel, and Maria Repnikova as they explored how the Chinese Communist Party shapes and projects its identity to its own people and beyond.
Bollywood lost him, journalism wasted him, and thank goodness for that. Manoj Kewalramani, the foreign policy analyst also known as The China Dude, joins Amit Varma in episode 231 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss his brilliant new book on post-Covid China, Smokeless War. Also discussed: Lokhandwala Cafes and the art of building narratives. Also check out: 1. Smokeless War: China's Quest for Geopolitical Dominance -- Manoj Kewalramani. 2. Eye on China -- Manoj Kewalramani's newsletter. (+ older archives at Pragati.) 3. The Takshashila Institution. 4. What Does China Want? -- Episode 143 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 5. Chinese Foreign Policy -- Episode 81 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Manoj Kewalramani). 6. Foreign Policy is a Big Deal -- Episode 170 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane & Manoj Kewalramani). 7. The Dragon and the Elephant -- Episode 181 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Hamsini Hariharan & Shibani Mehta). 8. Keeping India Safe -- Episode 219 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sushant Singh). 9. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 10. Profit = Philanthropy -- Amit Varma. 11. Under the Dome -- Documentary by Chai Jing. 12. The Invention of China -- Bill Hayton. 13. China's Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy -- Peter Martin. 14. The Prem Panicker Files -- Episode 217 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prem Panicker). 15. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 16. Narendra Modi takes a Great Leap Backwards -- Amit Varma (on Mao, sparrows, great leaps etc). 17. Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice — David Galula. 18. We Won't Need To Fight A War If We Can Win The Peace — Amit Varma. 19. Policy Paradox – The Art of Political Decision Making -- Deborah Stone. 20. Homeopathic Faith (2010) -- Amit Varma. 21. Demystifying GDP -- Episode 130 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajeswari Sengupta). 22. Where Anna Hazare Gets It Wrong -- Amit Varma. 23. Sample SSR consipracy theory: He's alive! 24. NCovMemory repository in English. 25. Terminus 2049. 26. Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City -- Fang Fang. 27. COVID-19, China and Anatomy of Fang Fang Phenomenon -- Hemant Adlakha. 28. Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-first Century -- Orville Schell & John Delury. 29. Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism -- Maria Repnikova. 30. The China Questions – Critical Insights into a Rising Power -- Edited by Jennifer Rudolph & Michael Szonyi. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader, FutureStack and The Social Capital Compound. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! And check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.
What is it like to be a journalist in China? There are obvious restrictions on freedom of speech, but, as I find out on this episode, there are creative ways to navigate the strict system of censorship. The end result is a complex media landscape - some have to litter investigations with state propaganda; others continue to report on sensitive issues (like the Wuhan Covid cover up) and rely on editors for protection; while growing digitisation and a strongman President continue to threaten what little independence flourished at the beginning of the century. With political scientist Maria Repnikova, author of Media Politics in China, and former journalist Fang Kecheng, now an Associate Professor in Journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
What is it like to be a journalist in China? There are obvious restrictions on freedom of speech, but, as Cindy Yu finds out on this episode, there are creative ways to navigate the strict system of censorship. The end result is a complex media landscape - some have to litter investigations with state propaganda; others continue to report on sensitive issues (like the Wuhan Covid cover up) and rely on editors for protection; while growing digitisation and a strongman President continue to threaten what little independence flourished at the beginning of the century.With political scientist Maria Repnikova, author of Media Politics in China, and former journalist Fang Kecheng, now an Associate Professor in Journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Countries along the Belt and Road face major strategic technical and political questions when considering Chinese assistance in the telecommunications field. In this episode, Dr. DingFei discusses two articles on Chinese telecoms investments in Ethiopia. Through the lenses of Ethiopian state-Chinese company negotiations as well as employment practices, she explains how Ethiopian actors have corralled Chinese company interests to better serve their priorities and put bounds on their dominance of the Ethiopian telecommunications system by introducing inter-firm competition. See Dr. DingFei's relevant publications here: 1) Chinese Telecommunications Companies in Ethiopia: The Influences of Host Government Intervention and Inter-firm Competition. (2020) The China Quarterly 2) Employee Management Strategies of Chinese Telecommunications Companies in Ethiopia: Half-way Localization and Internationalization. (2020) Journal of Contemporary China Check out our recommendations!Ding1) Africa's Shadow Rise: China and the Mirage of African Economic Development, Pádraig Carmody, Peter Kragelund, and Ricardo Reboredo, September 2020Erik1) Going Local: An Assessment of China’s Administrative-Level Activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, Margaret Myers, December 20202) How To with John Wilson, HBOJuliet1) Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism, Maria Repnikova, June 2017~Special thanks to Maggie Gaus, who joined the Belt and Road Pod team in Dec 2020 and edited this episode~
Almost a year after the Covid-19 pandemic began, China is celebrating the way it's cracked down on the virus. Overrun hospitals have been replaced with crowded bars, restaurants and markets. Unlike in the West, life is returning to normal, a stunning recovery that hasn't been lost on China's spin doctors. We take a look at how China's economy has bounced back and see how life is returning to normal in Wuhan, once the epicentre of the virus. Finally, we break down Chinese propaganda with Maria Repnikova, who explains the creative ways the pandemic has been conveyed in the media.
Save Meduza!https://support.meduza.io/enFor the past two years, several major state news organizations in Russia have been working with China's biggest media conglomerate to trade publicity about each nation's greatest achievements. Beijing's efforts have fallen mostly flat in Russia, however, thanks to shortages of trained personnel and shortcomings in China's grasp of the Russian mediasphere. Moscow, meanwhile, has struggled as the propaganda pact's junior partner. To learn more about how the Russian and Chinese state media work together, why this cooperation has stumbled, and how geopolitics plays into this relationship, “The Naked Pravda” turned to three experts, as well as Meduza's own investigative editor: (1:23) Meduza investigative editor Alexey Kovalev explains how he first learned about media cooperation between state broadcasters in Russia and China. (5:07) Maria Repnikova, an expert in Chinese media politics and an assistant professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University, warns against using too negative a frame to analyze Chinese foreign broadcasting. (11:48) Alexander Gabuev, who chairs the Carnegie Moscow Center's “Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program,” describes major differences between the Russian and Chinese media markets. (22:23) Professor of International Relations Sergey Radchenko discusses Moscow's cautious approach to the expansion of Chinese influence, like the Belt and Road Initiative. “The Naked Pravda” comes out on Fridays (or sometimes Saturdays). Catch every new episode by subscribing at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or other platforms. If you have a question or comment about the show, please write to Kevin Rothrock at kevin@meduza.io with the subject line: “The Naked Pravda.”
In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Maria Repnikova (Georgia State University) and Maxim Trudolubov (Meduza) to learn more about the state of news media in Russia and China today. Read the transcript here.
In this edition of Wilson Center NOW we are joined by Robert Daly, Director of the Kissinger Institute, and Maria Repnikova, Director of the Center for Global Information Studies and an Assistant Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University. They discuss how COVID-19, the George Floyd protests in the United States, and China’s National Security Law for Hong Kong are affecting US-China relations.
Kaiser and Jeremy chat with Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he directs the Global Health Governance roundtable series. In addition to his role at CFR, Yanzhong is also a professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, making him an ideal guest to talk about a pathogen with major domestic and international political implications. Recommendations:Jeremy: Three pieces from SupChina: Kenyan students in Wuhan plead for evacuation, by April Zhu; The disappearance of Perhat Tursun, one of the Uyghur world’s greatest authors, by Darren Byler; and Chinese moms in America’s illicit massage parlors, by Teng Chen. Yanzhong: Two movies, Outbreak and 28 Days Later. Kaiser: The subtle muckrakers of the coronavirus epidemic, by Maria Repnikova.
How do the Chinese government and companies engage with the public in Africa? Nillah Nyakoa (journalist at China Radio International), Eric Olander (managing editor of The China Africa Project), and Maria Repnikova (assistant professor of global communications) join host Aladin Farré to explore the different ways China sells, and fails to sell, its story to an entire continent.Like the podcast? Take a few minutes to fill out this survey.Middle Earth is made by China Compass Productions. If you have a China-themed cultural project, please get in touch!With thanks to Brenden Gonsalves for graphic design and Sean Calvo for music support.Recommendations:The TV series Mao Doudou and Her Sweet Days (媳妇的美好时代 2009), which was dubbed in Swahili.Two Chinese vloggers, Zhao Huiling and Fyjo Molly, who travel throughout Africa.The short-video app Vskit, which is made by the Shenzhen-based mobile phone manufacturer Transsion.
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People's Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country's media which is understood...
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood in terms of mouthpieces of the party-state or vanishingly rare dissident voices. Yet as Maria Repnikova lucidly shows in her book Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2017) there may be much more at play here than a straightforward cleavage between collaboration and resistance. Through discussion of the work of ‘critical journalists’ and their interactions with officialdom, Repnikova paints a rich and provocative picture of the flexible, creative, if nevertheless precarious, nature of state-media interactions whose implications go far beyond the media sphere. Repnikova suggests that journalistic ‘change-makers within the system’ (to whom the book is dedicated) delicately tread the “fringes of the permissible” (p. 11), pursuing a collaborative mode of investigative work in an environment which remains saturated with Party-state power. Conversely, the authorities benefit from an ability to learn from the media’s investigations, or use media as a propaganda channel, even as they frequently step in to restrict reporting work. Repnikova’s multi-perspectival consideration of various key actors in this system, carried out through multilingual textual research and in-depth interviews, adds vital insight to our understanding of media, and state-society dynamics more generally, in non-Western and authoritarian contexts. Further enhancing this late in the book is a particularly compelling comparison with Soviet and Russian cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood in terms of mouthpieces of the party-state or vanishingly rare dissident voices. Yet as Maria Repnikova lucidly shows in her book Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2017) there may be much more at play here than a straightforward cleavage between collaboration and resistance. Through discussion of the work of ‘critical journalists’ and their interactions with officialdom, Repnikova paints a rich and provocative picture of the flexible, creative, if nevertheless precarious, nature of state-media interactions whose implications go far beyond the media sphere. Repnikova suggests that journalistic ‘change-makers within the system’ (to whom the book is dedicated) delicately tread the “fringes of the permissible” (p. 11), pursuing a collaborative mode of investigative work in an environment which remains saturated with Party-state power. Conversely, the authorities benefit from an ability to learn from the media’s investigations, or use media as a propaganda channel, even as they frequently step in to restrict reporting work. Repnikova’s multi-perspectival consideration of various key actors in this system, carried out through multilingual textual research and in-depth interviews, adds vital insight to our understanding of media, and state-society dynamics more generally, in non-Western and authoritarian contexts. Further enhancing this late in the book is a particularly compelling comparison with Soviet and Russian cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood in terms of mouthpieces of the party-state or vanishingly rare dissident voices. Yet as Maria Repnikova lucidly shows in her book Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2017) there may be much more at play here than a straightforward cleavage between collaboration and resistance. Through discussion of the work of ‘critical journalists’ and their interactions with officialdom, Repnikova paints a rich and provocative picture of the flexible, creative, if nevertheless precarious, nature of state-media interactions whose implications go far beyond the media sphere. Repnikova suggests that journalistic ‘change-makers within the system’ (to whom the book is dedicated) delicately tread the “fringes of the permissible” (p. 11), pursuing a collaborative mode of investigative work in an environment which remains saturated with Party-state power. Conversely, the authorities benefit from an ability to learn from the media’s investigations, or use media as a propaganda channel, even as they frequently step in to restrict reporting work. Repnikova’s multi-perspectival consideration of various key actors in this system, carried out through multilingual textual research and in-depth interviews, adds vital insight to our understanding of media, and state-society dynamics more generally, in non-Western and authoritarian contexts. Further enhancing this late in the book is a particularly compelling comparison with Soviet and Russian cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood... Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies
Despite its extraordinary diversity, life in the People’s Republic of China is all too often viewed mainly through the lens of politics, with dynamics of top-down coercion and bottom-up resistance seen to predominate. Such a binary framing is particularly often applied to analyses of the country’s media which is understood in terms of mouthpieces of the party-state or vanishingly rare dissident voices. Yet as Maria Repnikova lucidly shows in her book Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2017) there may be much more at play here than a straightforward cleavage between collaboration and resistance. Through discussion of the work of ‘critical journalists’ and their interactions with officialdom, Repnikova paints a rich and provocative picture of the flexible, creative, if nevertheless precarious, nature of state-media interactions whose implications go far beyond the media sphere. Repnikova suggests that journalistic ‘change-makers within the system’ (to whom the book is dedicated) delicately tread the “fringes of the permissible” (p. 11), pursuing a collaborative mode of investigative work in an environment which remains saturated with Party-state power. Conversely, the authorities benefit from an ability to learn from the media’s investigations, or use media as a propaganda channel, even as they frequently step in to restrict reporting work. Repnikova’s multi-perspectival consideration of various key actors in this system, carried out through multilingual textual research and in-depth interviews, adds vital insight to our understanding of media, and state-society dynamics more generally, in non-Western and authoritarian contexts. Further enhancing this late in the book is a particularly compelling comparison with Soviet and Russian cases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On 12 May 2008, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit Wenchuan in Sichuan, claiming more than 85,000 lives, many of them schoolchildren whose classrooms collapsed. It was a paradoxical moment of great tragedy and great hope, with a new sense of openness and civil society emerging in the quake's immediate aftermath. A decade on, its legacy has proved much darker including Great Leap Forward style urbanisation drives and an entrenchment of stability maintenance. In 2008, during the brief window of openness, Louisa reported on the quake for NPR. In March of this year, she convened a panel on the Sichuan Earthquake at the Association for Asian Studies in Washington D.C., featuring Colorado College's Christian Sorace, Georgia State University's Maria Repnikova, Emory University's Xu Bin and Yi Kang from Hong Kong Baptist University. A special issue of Made In China was also produced to mark the anniversary http://www.chinoiresie.info/PDF/Made-in-China-01-2018.pdf.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Outside observers typically view China’s media as utterly shackled by the bonds of censorship, unable to critique the government or speak truth to power in any meaningful sense. In part, this is true — censorship and other pressures do create “no-go” zones for journalists in China, as well as gray zones that sometimes rapidly turn red. But Maria Repnikova, a professor at Georgia State University, believes that the critical role of media in China is underappreciated. While allowing that “speaking truth to power” in the sense of a free press in a liberal democracy is obviously not how China works, many investigative journalists and journalist-intellectuals play a surprisingly active role in giving feedback and constructive criticism to the Party-state. Maria discusses this theory in her new book, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism, for which she interviewed 120 sources — journalists, officials, and experts — to uncover exactly how the improvised “dance” of mutual feedback between the media and the government in China really happens. On Sinica, she discusses both this research and her work on Russia, comparing the management of media in both countries and questioning how we should understand the role of media in authoritarian countries in general. Recommendations: Jeremy: The Afrikaners: Biography of a People, by Hermann Giliomee, a fascinating history of the people who migrated to South Africa from the Netherlands, from the time that they arrived and began calling themselves African right to the end of apartheid. Maria: Losing Pravda: Ethics and The Press in Post-Truth Russia, by Natalia Roudakova, one of the best overviews of the delegitimization of media in Russia, from the Soviet period to the Putin period. Kaiser: Pop music of the late 1970s. Kick back, go on Spotify, and listen to some Billboard top 100 hits from ’77 to ’79. . Introducing SupChina Access, a membership program that gives you exclusive access to SupChina's digital newsroom, succinct summaries of the week in China, discounts on SupChina events, and more. Sign up here!
Popular images of Chinese media generally cast it as an agent of state propaganda. This is hardly surprising given the history of Chinese official media, and the swift suppression of those who openly criticize the regime. Yet the dichotomy between media and the party, with the former perpetually dominated by the latter, is complicated by the emergence of what Maria Repnikova, in her new book, terms “critical journalism.” In Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism, Dr. Repnikova reveals a web of complex negotiations taking place between investigative journalists who have probed sensitive issues such as food safety and corruption, and party officials. Chinese critical journalists do not protest overtly, but their dynamic relationship with the party-state, characterized by what Dr. Repnikova calls “guarded improvisation,” leaves room for an important creative and political agency as they cautiously cover complicated, and sometimes controversial, topics. On November 2, 2017, Dr. Repnikova joined National Committee Senior Director for Education Margot Landman in New York for a discussion of her book, the role of Chinese media, and what it means to be a Chinese journalist in the Xi era.
Popular images of Chinese media generally cast it as an agent of state propaganda. This is hardly surprising given the history of Chinese official media, and the swift suppression of those who openly criticize the regime. Yet the dichotomy between media and the party, with the former perpetually dominated by the latter, is complicated by the emergence of what Maria Repnikova, in her new book, terms “critical journalism.” In Media Politics in China: Improvising Power under Authoritarianism, Dr. Repnikova reveals a web of complex negotiations taking place between investigative journalists who have probed sensitive issues such as food safety and corruption, and party officials. Chinese critical journalists do not protest overtly, but their dynamic relationship with the party-state, characterized by what Dr. Repnikova calls “guarded improvisation,” leaves room for an important creative and political agency as they cautiously cover complicated, and sometimes controversial, topics. On November 2, 2017, Dr. Repnikova joined National Committee Senior Director for Education Margot Landman in New York for a discussion of her book, the role of Chinese media, and what it means to be a Chinese journalist in the Xi era.
With the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese communist leadership established a formal alliance with the Soviet Union. The pact between the two communist giants proved to be short-lived as ideological differences between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong, coupled with the growing fear in China of Soviet encirclement, compromised the alliance. Eventually, following several border skirmishes, including a war in 1969, China’s leaders feared a Soviet invasion. To counter this, Mao sought rapprochement with the United States, a move that would define Sino-Soviet relations until the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. For the second installment of our 50th Anniversary series, China and the World, Dr. Maria Repnikova, expert on Sino-Russian relations, described the latest developments in the relationship with National Committee President Stephen Orlins on April 18, 2016 in New York City. Dr. Maria Repnikova is a scholar of comparative Chinese and Russian media politics and Sino-Russian relations. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, where she is completing a book on critical journalists in China.
Jonathan Hassid, University of Technology, Sydney, and Maria Repnikova, University of Oxford Jonathan Hassid is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney's China Research Centre. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote his dissertation on journalists' political resistance to China's censorship apparatus. In addition to recent work in the China Quarterly and the Journal of Communication, and a forthcoming article in Comparative Political Studies, he has also published on the Chinese media in Asian Survey and elsewhere. Maria Repnikova is Research Officer for the ESRC Project "UK-China-Africa Media Research Network". Maria is currently a doctoral student (Rhodes scholar) at Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations, focusing on the issues of the press in China and Russia. She has received her Masters in Comparative Government from Oxford and holds a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Her current research interests are: China-Russia comparative media politics; comparative media regulation and protections of the press; China's media assistance to Africa; theoretical research on non-democratic regimes.
Jonathan Hassid, University of Technology, Sydney, and Maria Repnikova, University of Oxford Jonathan Hassid is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney's China Research Centre. He received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and wrote his dissertation on journalists' political resistance to China's censorship apparatus. In addition to recent work in the China Quarterly and the Journal of Communication, and a forthcoming article in Comparative Political Studies, he has also published on the Chinese media in Asian Survey and elsewhere. Maria Repnikova is Research Officer for the ESRC Project "UK-China-Africa Media Research Network". Maria is currently a doctoral student (Rhodes scholar) at Oxford's Department of Politics and International Relations, focusing on the issues of the press in China and Russia. She has received her Masters in Comparative Government from Oxford and holds a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Her current research interests are: China-Russia comparative media politics; comparative media regulation and protections of the press; China's media assistance to Africa; theoretical research on non-democratic regimes.