On the afternoon of September 6, 2013, Dr. Michael Lindsay, 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 entitled "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. It was attended by over ten people including Associate Professor Wang Dong, Deputy Director of theInstitute for Global Cooperation and Understanding, Peking University (iGCU), Dr. Jie Dalei and doctoral students and postgraduates of the School of International Studies.
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 United States and reviewing the political and intellectual history of the country, Professor Sherratt explained this phenomenon in three ways: first, the electoral law in the United States creates a pattern of clear distinctions between free and conservative electoral districts, making the two parties lack the motive force for 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; and third, patriotic ideology has existed in American politics since the founding of the country, leading to a type of political discourse on loyalty and betrayal, and the competing parties tend to label each other as "un-patriotic" and "un-American" as a result.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, on behalf of the School of International Studies and American Studies Center, Vice President Fan Shiming presented the American side with a beautiful gift from Peking University: a framed silk weaving of the West Gate of Peking University, and the American side presented a gift from Gordon College in return. The lecture concluded in a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere.
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