Public Affairs Discussion Group

Risky Business: Labor Contention in China

Paul Schroeder, Ph.D. – Visiting Professor of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University

Friday November 12, 2010
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Workers in China have stepped out from the shadow of the All China Federation of Trade Unions, the government-established union that serves as a front for Communist Party policies.

A continuing series of strikes since May 2010 over wages and working conditions pose a serious challenge to Party control of a restive labor force. At the same time, rising wages could help China move from an export-dominated economy to the consumer economy China’s leaders hope for.

Dr. Paul Schroeder, visiting assistant professor of political science, will discuss what’s going on with China’s labor force on Friday, November 12, 2010.

On Fridays a few spaces are available for visitors with mobility concerns. Parking options for visitors from beyond campus include the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard, the small lot on Adelbert Road just uphill from Euclid Ave, and other lots on campus.

More About Our Guest….

Paul Schroeder is Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University. Professor Schroeder earned his Ph.D. from Ohio State in Chinese Politics in 1987, writing his dissertation on regional power in the Chinese political system. Before embarking on his Ph.D. studies, he was a journalist covering police, city, county and state government for several Ohio newspapers. While doing his dissertation research, Paul Scroeder represented the State of Ohio Department of Development in Wuhan, China. He then joined the staff of the National Committee on U.S. ― China Relations in New York, managing programs in law and economics.

From 1995-2007, Dr. Schroeder was managing director of East-West Trade Development, Ltd., a firm that assisted American businesses with international trade opportunities, especially with China. He also co-founded Families of the Fallen for Change, a lobby group advocating a political solution to the Iraq war, and as part of that has worked with senior members of Congress to develop policy alternatives. Paul has taught a series of courses at CWRU in recent years, including SAGES courses on China and the Environment; POSC 368 on The Peoples Republic of China; POSC 370C, The United States and Asia; and POSC 374, Politics of Development in the Global South. He brings to our classrooms remarkable experience in teaching, scholarship, working within China and within the foreign policy process of the United States.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

November 19: Jessica Green, Assistant Professor of Political Science: Global Responses to Greenhouse Gases.

December 3: Paul Ernsberger, Associate Professor of Nutrition: Health At Any Size.

January 14: Doug Brattebo, Hiram College: The Obama Presidency (Take 3).

January 21: Elliot Posner, Associate Professor of Political Science: Europe, the EU, and the Euro

January 28: Martha Woodmansee, Professor of English and Law: Intellectual Property and the Commerce in Ideas.

February 4: Marixa Lasso, Associate Professor of History: Bicentennials in Latin America and the history of constitutional government.

February 11: Special Inamori Center Event Moderated by Shannon French

February 18: Diane Anderson, Executive Director, and Iwan Alexander, Faculty Director, Great Lakes Energy Institute: News from the Great Lakes Energy Institute

February 25: Gene Matthews, Director of Facilities Services, CWRU: “Case Recycles,” and How That Works.

March 4: Shirley M. Moore, Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing: Even After a Heart Attack – The Challenge of Encouraging Healthy Behavior

March 11: No Session, Spring Break

March 18: Special Inamori Center Event

March 25: Mark Votruba, Associate Professor of Economics: The Social Effects of Economic Dislocation

April 1: Jacqueline Lipton, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Law, Technology and the Arts: Privacy and Online Social Networks.

April 8: Special Inamori Center Event

April 15: Mark Naymik, Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio’s Budget Battle

April 22: Jon Groetzinger, Visiting Professor of Law and Director, China Legal Programs: Developing the Legal Profession in China.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion. Overflow parking is also available in the Severance Hall parking garage on East Boulevard.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.

November 8, 2010

Upcoming Events

“Under Color of Law”

Julian Bond, former Chairman, NAACP, Case Western Reserve University School of Law Frank J. Battisti Memorial Lecture, November 11, 2010, 6:00-7:00 p.m., Ford Auditorium, Allen Medical Library, Corner of Adelbert Road and Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH

Julian Bond, a world-renowned member of the U.S. civil rights movement, will speak on the role the law has played in both encouraging and thwarting that movement, beginning with the seminal Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954). While Brown in many ways gave life to the civil rights movement in this country, Mr. Bond will discuss how legal developments continuing to the present day have served at times in fact to discourage progress in that movement. His presentation will include his personal involvement with legal developments in the civil rights movement and his own case involving his seat in the Georgia legislature — a case that ultimately ended up before the Supreme Court.

Government Speech: The Government’s Ability to Compel and Restrict Speech

Featuring Adam Babich, Professor, Tulane University School of Law, Caroline Corbin, Associate Professor, University of Miami School of Law, Mary Jean Dolan, Assistant Professor, John Marshall Law School-Chicago, Jonathan Entin, Professor, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Abner Greene, Leonard F. Manning Professor, Fordham University School of Law, Peter Joy, Professor, Washington University, St. Louis, School of Law, Douglas Laycock, Professor, University of Michigan School of Law, Helen Norton, Associate Professor University of Colorado Law School, Frederick Schauer, David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor, University of Virginia, November 19, 2010, 9:00 a.m-4:15 p.m., Moot Court Room, Case Western Reserve School of Law, 11075 East Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44106

The 2010-2011 Law Review Symposium will address limits on government speech and the government’s ability to claim speech as its own in both restricting and compelling speech. Panels will examine 1) the intersection between government speech and the establishment clause (with a focus on the implications of Salazar v. Buono); 2) the extent to which the government can control school curricula and restrict the work of law school clinics; 3) the extent to which the government can compel speech by denominating the speech as its own.