The Woodrow Wilson School's China and the World Program will host a public lecture with Edward S. Steinfeld titled, "Playing Our Game: China's Rise and the West" at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, in Room 2, McCosh Hall (Entrance B), on the Princeton University campus.

Steinfeld's talk will examine how commercial integration with the West -- including in strategic sectors like energy -- has induced sweeping political change within China.  The talk will demonstrate how in key areas like industrial restructuring, commercial innovation, and energy, the Chinese government, whether intentionally or not, has outsourced decision making authority to overseas commercial and governmental actors.  That kind of “institutional” outsourcing has major implications for China's future political development, as well as its response to major global challenges like climate change and energy sustainability.

In addition to being associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Steinfeld is the director of the MIT-China Program and co-director of the China Energy Group at the MIT Industrial Performance Center.  He specializes in Chinese economic reform and industrial competitiveness. His current research examines the institutional and political context for infrastructure decision making and energy-related innovation in China. More broadly, Steinfeld is interested in the political, economic, and industrial competitiveness ramifications of China's emergence as a global producer.

He is co-author of the recent article (with Richard Lester and Edward Cunningham) “Greener Plants, Grayer Skies? A Report from the Front Lines of China's Energy Sector” (Energy Policy, 2009).  His forthcoming book on the topic, Playing Our Game, will be available in the Spring 2010 from Oxford University Press.  He received his B.A and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University.

This event is free and open to the public.