Wednesday, January 23, 2013
18:00 – 20:00, Seminar Room 0.603, KWZ Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14
Prof. Tse-Kang Leng
Professor of Political Science, National Chengchi University Academia Sinica, Institute of Political Science, Deputy Director

The purpose of this talk is to delve into the model of urban governance on the cultural industry in China. The case of Nanjing is selected to demonstrate the formation of urban state entrepreneurialism and its constraints. In contrast to the manufacturing sector, which is marked by strong state intervention, the cultural and creative industries present the state with such challenges as “creating” the market and the environment. Traditional top-down policy instruments of command, control, and regulation could not be fully applied to this new field of service-oriented businesses. This talk aims to explain how the local state transforms itself into an active market player to create niches of urban development.

Prof. Lengs research interests focus on theories of international relations and cross- Straits relations, political economy of globalization, and political economy of urban development in China. Recent academic works include: “Local States, Institutional Changes, and Innovations Systems: Beijing and Shanghai Compared,” Journal of Contemporary China, (Forthcoming, March, 2013. Co-authored with Jenn-hwan Wang) / “Coping with China in Hard Times: Taiwan in global and domestic Perspectives,” Pacific Focus , (vol. 26, no. 3, Dec, 2011) / “Politics of Centrally-Administered Municipalities in China,” in Jae Ho Chung ed., The Ladder of Governance: Traditions and Changes in China’s Local Administrative Hierarchy (London: Rutledge, 2009), Chapter 3 / Governance of Biodiversity Conservation in China and Taiwan (Cheltenham,UK: Edward Elgar, 2006. Co-authored with Gerald McBeath).