WFU guest lecturer to discuss American nationalism on Nov. 19

Minxin PeiMinxin Pei, senior associate and co-director of the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, will discuss “Rethinking American Nationalism” at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 in the Law School Auditorium at Wake Forest University’s Worrell Professional Center.

The free, public lecture, sponsored by the university’s political science department, is the second in a series planned around the theme “Nation Building and National Identity.” The series is funded through an endowment created by C.H. Richards, founder of Wake Forest’s political science department.

Pei, an expert in democracy issues and American foreign policy toward Asia, has done extensive research in several areas, including Chinese politics, economic reform, East Asian politics, U.S. relations with East Asian countries and democratization in developing countries.

His most recent work explores nation-building attempts made by the United States in developing countries and the sources of tensions in American nationalism. His article, “The Paradoxes of American Nationalism,” was the cover essay in the May-June issue of Foreign Policy. His policy brief, “Lessons from the Past: the American Record on Nation-building,” has received extensive media coverage and was featured in a full-page story in the New York Times.

Pei’s publications have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, Journal of Democracy, The Financial Times, The Christian Science Monitor and many leading newspapers and academic journals.

He is the author of “From Reform to Revolution: The Demise of Communism in China and the Soviet Union.” He is completing a book, “China’s Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy.”

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