On the afternoon of September 6, 2013, Dr. Gordon College, President of Gordon College, a well-known American liberal arts college, and Professor Timothy Sherratt, head of the Department of Political Science, visited Peking University. Professor Sherratt gave a lecture titled “Ideological Factors in American Politics and Diplomacy”.The lecture was presided over by Fan Shiming, Vice President of the School of International Studies of Peking University, and Professor Zhang Qingmin made comments.Over ten people, including Associate Professor Wang Dong, Deputy Director ofInstitute for Global Cooperation and Understanding (formerly known as Institute for China-US People-to-People Exchange), Dr. Jie Dalei, and doctoral students and postgraduates of School of International Studies, attended the lecture.
As a scholar of American politics and constitutional and Christian political thought, as well as a British citizen who has lived and taught in the United States for 35 years, Professor Sherratt has a unique perspective in understanding American politics. At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Sherratt pointed out that in recent years, there have been black or white differences in American politics, and these differences have often been ideologically elevated to the height of the United States’ foundations, making it difficult for the two sides to compromise with each other.By analyzing the electoral system in the US and reviewing the political and intellectual history of the US, Professor Sherratt explained this phenomenon in three ways: first, the electoral law in the US creates a pattern of distinct distinctions between free and conservative electoral districts, making the two parties lack the motive force of cooperation; second, since the civil rights movement, a large number of irreconcilable rights and moral issues have entered the political field, making it more difficult to compromise in politics; third, patriotic ideology has existed in American politics since the founding of the country, which has led to a set of political discourse on loyalty and betrayal, so that the competing parties tend to label each other as “unpatriotic” and “un-American”.Later, Professor Sherratt explained the meaning of the above phenomenon and compared the political cultures of the United States and Britain.
In the Q&A session, the teachers and students held an in-depth discussion with Professor Sherratt on the relationship between American political culture and its international situation and external performance, as well as the religious background of American politics.In the end, Deputy Dean Fan Shiming, on behalf of School of International Studies and American Studies Center, presented the American side with a beautiful gift from Peking University-the West Gate of Peking University woven with silk in the frame, and American side also gave a gift from Gordon College in return.The lecture concluded in a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere.
Link:http://www.cuppe.pku.edu.cn/jlhd/dwjl/230236.htm
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