"China, Russia, and the U.S.: New World Disorder?"
A Zoom Conversation with Professor Marc Blecher and Professor Ronald Suny
The fundamental remaking of the post-World War II settlement—American supremacy in the capitalist world, Soviet domination of the state socialist one, and China’s radical rise after a century of crisis—began to unravel five decades ago, a process that is now completing. But, in Slavoj Žižek's poetic gloss of Antonio Gramsci, “The old world is not yet dead, the new world is not yet born. It is a time of monsters.” Professors Blecher and Suny will sketch some of the major tectonic forces at play, both within each pole and also among them on the international chessboard, and explore the implications.
Marc Blecher is the James Monroe Professor of Politics and East Asian Studies at Oberlin. His specialty is Chinese politics, and he also teaches Asian politics and political economy, Marxian theory, and comparative politics. His most recent books are Class and the Communist Party of China, 1921-1978, Class and the Communist Party of China, 1978-2021, Politics as a Science: A Prolegomenon, and The Making of China’s Working Class: A World to Lose. Marc is now the most senior member of the Oberlin faculty, having taught since 1976. He recalls that Ron Suny became his first friend when he arrived on campus and remains his best friend. Marc expresses pride in holding the James Monroe professorship, noting that Monroe was an Oberlin alum, a member of the Oberlin faculty, a member of Congress, and an important abolitionist. When on campus you can visit the historic Monroe home which is located next to the Conservatory.
Ronald Grigor Suny is the William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of History and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan and Emeritus Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Chicago. His intellectual interests have centered on the non-Russian nationalities of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, particularly those of the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia). Ron taught at Oberlin College from 1968-1981 and is the author of Stalin: Passage to Revolution, “They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide, and The Revenge of the Past: Nationalism, Revolution, and the Collapse of the Soviet Union.
