On September 25 and 26, Professor Clifford Cobb, a senior researcher of the Institute of Chinese and American post modern development of Claremont Graduate University, visited our institute. Professor Clifford Cobb has been committed to the research of sustainable development, poverty, social justice and political party issues for many years. He tries to find a win-win way of sustainable development. He is one of the first proponents of the concept of "green GDP" in the western world, and in 2004 he was rated as one of the "most insightful thinkers in the 20th century". His visit is the second time that members of the center have visited our institute since the establishment of the cooperative relationship between our institute and the Sino US Institute of post modern development.
During the visit, Professor Cobb gave two wonderful academic reports to our teachers and students in the research and teaching building on the morning and afternoon of the 26th. Professor Wei Xiaowen, Dean of the University, delivered a warm welcome speech. Vice minister Xibao and Vice Minister Dai Yanjun of the Ministry of humanities were invited to attend. Chen Xiaohui, vice president of Marxism college and all teachers and students attended the conference, which was presided over by Professor Xu Chengfang, vice president.
The theme of the first academic report was "political parties: the past, the present, and the future". Professor Cobb studied the problem of political parties from the perspective of power. Starting from the origin of political parties, he analyzed the purpose of the existence of political parties, namely, reducing violence, effective governance and hegemonic tools. On this basis, he put forward his own views on the weakening of political parties in the United States and the effective governance of the Communist Party of China in the future.
The theme of the second academic report is "anti poverty and social public policy: making policies to prevent poverty". Professor Cobb first analyzed two wrong views about poverty: the lack of individual human resources and the lack of capital structure. He believes that 80% of poverty is caused by social structural factors, and specifically expounds his two structural views on Poverty: three factor theory and fiscal and monetary policy. In the end, Professor Cobb put forward his own suggestions for China and Chinese scholars: China should continue to follow a practical policy; Chinese scholars should not copy western theories, but should rethink the foundation of these theories wisely.
These two reports were warmly welcomed by all the teachers and students of our college, and we had in-depth interactive exchanges with Professor Cobb. Professor Xu Chengfang made a brief summary of the two academic reports. He pointed out that Professor Cobb's academic reports are very wonderful. Professor Cobb's analysis and elaboration may be different from China's actual national conditions and policies, but only if there are differences can we learn from them. We can't accept some of his views, but his perspective and many of his views are of great significance to us.
(text source: Li Xuemei; picture source: Qu Hong)
