Talk by Peter Lavelle (Associate Professor, Department of History University of Connecticut)

In the 1850s, when the Taiping Rebellion threw the finances of the Qing Empire into disarray, officials scrambled to prevent their empire from crumbling. In Xinjiang, they enacted a raft of measures to urgently make up for the loss of financial support from Beijing. These measures ranged from the liquidation of state-owned livestock herds to the widespread impressment of Turkestani Muslims in agriculture and mining. Conventional histories of the Taiping-era financial crisis have often linked it to the long-term institutional development of the modern Chinese fiscal state in the context of world history. By contrast, this paper takes a short-term and regionally-focused view of history in the mid-nineteenth century, showing that the financial crisis led to distinct patterns in the exploitation of people and resources in Qing Central Asia.

Peter Lavelle is a specialist in Chinese history during the long nineteenth century. His research focuses on topics related to the environment, agriculture, science and technology, and colonialism. He is currently working on a book about Chinese agricultural science and development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His research has been supported by funding from a variety of sources, including the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies and the Fulbright Program. He received his B.A. from Grinnell College and his Ph.D. from Cornell University. Before joining the faculty at the University of Connecticut, he was a member of the History faculty at Temple University.

The Bomb is a critically acclaimed documentary film that puts viewers at the center of the story of nuclear weapons. It explores their immense power, their perverse allure, and the profound death wish at their very heart. Combining archival footage, animation, music, and text, The Bomb offers a visceral and unsettling experience, taking audiences inside the complex cultural and technological realm of nuclear weapons.

Free admission. This special screening of The Bomb (one hour) will be followed by a panel discussion. The film and panel event is sponsored by the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Panel

Rebecca Slayton (moderator), Director, Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict StudiesAnindita Banerjee, Associate Professor of Comparative LiteratureDavid Cortright, Reppy Affiliated Scholar, Professor Emeritus of the Practice, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre DameAgnieszka Nimark, Reppy Visiting Scholar, Associate Senior Researcher in Global Geopolitics and Security at CIDOB – Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, Spain***

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A discussion with Pita Limjaroenrat, hosted by the Center on Global Democracy.

About the Speaker
Pita Limjaroenrat (b. 1980) formerly led the Move Forward Party (MFP) in Thailand’s May 2023 general elections, where his social democratic platform won the most votes and seats in the Parliament. Despite this mandate, his attempts to form a government were blocked by institutional mechanisms, and the Constitutional Court dissolved the MFP on August 7. Pita’s policy focus centers on addressing grassroots issues, welfare improvements, and human rights, while advocating for the demilitarization of politics and economic demonopolization. Currently, he is Visiting Senior Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He holds a joint MPA-MBA from Harvard Kennedy School and MIT Sloan and has been named on the TIME 100 Next List. Today, Pita continues to champion transparent and equitable governance on a global scale.

About the Event

Join Pita Limjaroenrat, former leader of Thailand’s dissolved Move Forward Party, for a discussion on contemporary Thai politics and society. In this fireside chat, Pita will address audience questions on topics such as Thailand’s political and economic landscape, inequality, and democratic movements, as well as the country’s evolving relationships with ASEAN and major global powers. The discussion will also touch on broader regional challenges and the state of democracy on a global scale.