In his talk last week Prof. Mertha offered insights on a number of different topics in Chinese/Cambodian history and the contemporary Communist Party of China. A number of points that Prof. Mertha touched on in his talk particularly interested me, and I am left with a couple of questions: what kind of aid and how much of it did the Chinese provide to Cambodia? How much of an impact did this aid have on the Khmer Rouge’s power and capability? What kinds of communication/coordination problems prevent the CPC from functioning more effectively today? Modern communications technology must overcome the physical vastness of the country, so is it just organizational problems that make it difficult for the party to delegate and implement policy plans? On another note, I also enjoyed Prof. Mertha’s humor and his accounts of the more fortuitous (the accommodating librarians) and serendipitous (the advisee’s relatives in China) moments of his research process.
3 thoughts on “Governments & Academic Research”
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I think the questions you brought up are definitely interesting. Their answers could help clarify the complex relationship between the two countries. I agree that how communication technology could impact the efficiency of the government would be an interesting area to research.
You bring up some interesting questions, but I felt like Professors Mertha’s argument was that China wasn’t actually able to support/control the Khmer Rouge very effectively due to the ineffectiveness of their bureaucracy and that’s why the situation in Cambodia ended up getting so out of hand. I could definitely have misunderstood though
I agree with you that Professor Mertha’s humor was a great part of the talk. While discussing a rather serious topic, he was able to make it enjoyable and informing at the same time. I really enjoyed this talk.