CeMEAS Conversations: Social Policy in China – Retrospect and Prospect

Prof. Mark Frazier (India-China Institute, The New School)

Our video „Social Policy in China – Retrospect and Prospect” was filmed as part of our CeMEAS lecture series 2017/2018. In our series we explore key issues and challenges of China’s welfare system over the last three decades. We invited speakers to discuss China’s new leadership and its potential for policy innovation, urbanization and social citizenship, as well as poverty alleviation, health inequality and the openness of Chinese social policy.

We are excited to present Prof. Mark Frazier as part of our CeMEAS Conversations. In this video we discuss China’s welfare regime, state owned enterprises and questions of social security in an ageing society.

Mark W. Frazier is Professor of Politics at The New School, where he also serves as Academic Director of the India China Institute. He teaches and writes about social policy in China and efforts to reduce inequalities. His recent research draws comparisons between China and India in terms of how each has coped with challenges related to inequality and urbanization. In his capacity as a director at the India China Institute, he works with faculty colleagues to sponsor research projects and conferences to support scholarship on comparative research on China and India, as well as Sino-Indian relations and their joint impact on the rest of the world. He is the author of Socialist Insecurity: Pensions and the Politics of Uneven Development in China (Cornell University Press, 2010) and The Making of the Chinese Industrial Workplace (Cambridge University Press, 2002). He has authored op-ed pieces and essays for The New York Times, Daedalus, and The Diplomat. Frazier has taken part in the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) Public Intellectual Program since 2005. Before assuming his current position at The New School in 2012, he held faculty positions at the University of Oklahoma and at Lawrence University.

In our conversation, he answers the following questions:
1. How has the role of government enterprises and social protection changed during the reform period?
2. What is the role of local governments in China’s welfare regime?
3. Which  challenges is China’s pension system facing today?
4. Is demography destiny? How do you see the future of the Chinese welfare regime?

 CeMEAS Conversation Editors: Sarah Eaton & Katja Pessl