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China, Taiwan, and the U.S.: A Coming Conflict? Session One

Moderator: Stephen W. Van Evera
Edward S. Steinfeld Eric Heginbotham PhD '04 Harry Harding Stephen W. Van Evera: February 25, 2002; Running Time: 01:28:40

About the Lecture

About the Lecture

Lecture Details

Location: Wong Auditorium/Tang Center

About the Speakers

Moderator: Stephen W. Van Evera

Professor of Political Science at MIT Associate Director, Center for International Studies

Stephen W. Van Evera is an Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT. A specialist in international affairs and security studies, he has written on American foreign and defense policy, nationalism and war, military policy and the causes of war, and social sciences methodology. His books include Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict and Guide to Methods in Political Science.

Edward S. Steinfeld

Associate Professor of Political Science at MIT

Edward Steinfeld is an associate professor of political economy in the MIT Department of Political Science. Steinfeld directs the MIT China Program (MISTI), and co-directs the MIT Industrial Performance Center’s China Energy Group. His research focuses on the political economy of development, with a particular emphasis on contemporary China.

Much of Steinfeld’s current research focuses on the growth, regulation, and performance of China’s energy sector. Decisions being reached in that sector today exert tremendous influence over a variety of global environmental concerns, everything from climate change to natural resource depletion. Such decisions, however, are exceedingly complicated, often involving multiple actors and dense interactions between new technologies, burgeoning markets, diverse commercial strategies, and new regulations.

While at MIT, Steinfeld has also served as a consultant to the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, and a variety of both public and private sector organizations. Steinfeld currently serves as a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

He received a B.A. ('88) in Government from Harvard University, a M.A.('93)and Ph.D.,('96) in Political Science from Harvard University.

Eric Heginbotham PhD '04

Doctoral Candidate in the Political Science Department at MIT

Eric Heginbotham is a doctoral candidate in the Political Science Department at MIT and a visiting faculty member at Boston College. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations Task Forces on Korea and China and a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, he has authored or co-authored many articles on Asia and military affairs in The National Interest, International Security, Foreign Affairs, and Military Review. His extensive field research in China coincided with several major crises in Chinese domestic and international politics. His dissertation examines the origins of Asian nations' grand strategies.

Harry Harding

Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, at George Washington University

Harry Harding is Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs, and Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, at George Washington University. A specialist on China and U.S.-China relations, particularly Chinese domestic politics and foreign policy, Dr. Harding is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a trustee of the Asia Foundation, and a director of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. In addition to articles in the journals World Politics, China Quarterly, and Foreign Policy, he is the author of the books A Fragile Relationship: The United States and China Since 1972, China's Second Revolution: Reform After Mao, and Organizing China: The Problem of Bureaucracy, 1949-1976.