Kathryn C. Lavelle, Ph.D. – Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs

Dear Colleagues:

Rising temperatures are melting the Arctic ice, opening new shipping routes and prompting world powers to jostle for access and control.

In January of 2018 China released an “Arctic Policy” statement, declaring the “Polar Silk Road” as the third extension of its Belt and Road Initiative, and China as a “Near Arctic State.” In the Summer, Russian Liquid Natural Gas was for the first time shipped to China on the northern sea route, bypassing the more expensive (and vulnerable to both the United States and pirates) Suez Canal route. In September, China put into service its first domestically-produced icebreaker, the Xuelong (Snow Dragon) 2, which can break ice up to 1.5 meters thick going in both ahead and astern directions, and operate in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius. It is far more capable than any of the U.S. icebreaking fleet, and led then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis to declare that, “the U.S. has to up its game in the Arctic.”

China has also taken steps to create economic development, such as airport infrastructure, ties with Greenland – somewhat similar to its initiatives in other parts of the world. This caused concern especially in Denmark, which controlled Greenland until 2007, and may be one reason the Danish Maritime Fund has created a project to study the Chinese initiative and its implications. CWRU’s Professor Kathryn C. Lavelle is part of the research team, focusing her contribution on Chinese trade patterns and how specific industries might benefit from a widening Northeast Passage. Join us as she considers the issues, implications, and uncertainties about this latest effect of climate change.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies

About Our Guest

Kathryn C. Lavelle is the Ellen and Dixon Long Professor of World Affairs at Case Western Reserve University. Her research specializes in the politics of financial governance. The author of The Politics of Equity Finance in Emerging Markets (Oxford University Press, 2004); Legislating International Organizations: US Congress, the IMF, and the World Bank (Oxford University Press, 2011); and Money and Banks in the American Political Process (Cambridge University Press, 2013), she has been a residential fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; the William Steiger Fellow with the American Political Science Association where she served on the staff of the House Committee on Financial Services; and the inaugural Fulbright research chair at the Munk Centre at the University of Toronto. She is currently investigating the politics of transnational regulatory issues in the wake of the global financial crisis in the US and European institutions.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library.

* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

April 19: Managing in a Trumped-Up Economy. With Mark Sniderman, Executive-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor of Economics, Weatherhead School, and former Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

April 26: What Do We Know About the Health and Safety Effects of Marijuana: Medical, Recreational, or Otherwise? With Theodore Parran Jr. MD, Isabel and Carter Wang Professor and Chair in Medical Education and Associate Director, Rosary Hall at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center.