Andrew Mertha is an American political scientist and the Inaugural Director of the SAIS China Global Research Center at Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University. [1] He is a scholar of Chinese and Cambodian politics with a particular emphasis on bureaucracy, institutions, Leninist Party Systems, policymaking and implementation, and China–United States relations. [1] [2] [3] Mertha speaks Khmer, Mandarin, French, and Hungarian. [4] He is one of few American scholars on China-Cambodia relations due to his proficiency in Khmer. [5]
Andrew Mertha | |
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Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Michigan |
Academic work | |
Institutions | Johns Hopkins University Cornell University Washington University in St. Louis |
Main interests | Bureaucracy,Institutions,Leninist Party Systems,Policy Making and Implementation,US-China Relations |
Mertha earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Michigan followed by a Doctor of Philosophy in the same subject. [6]
Mertha has worked and researched in China and Cambodia:he lived in China for seven years as an English teacher (1988–1989),a representative for a toy company (1991–1994,1995,and 1996),and a scholar (from 1998). He has been conducting field and archival work in Cambodia since 2009. [7]
Mertha joined the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 2018 [8] and served as the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation from 2019 to 2021. [1] At SAIS,he teaches courses such as Leadership in China and Contemporary Chinese politics. Before he joined SAIS,he was a Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University from 2008 to 2018. [6] He was also the director of Cornell's China and Asia-Pacific Studies programs and a core faculty member in the East Asia and Southeast Asia programs. [9] From 2001 to 2008,he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science/Program in International and Area Studies at the Washington University in St. Louis. [10]
Mertha has authored three monographs:The Politics of Piracy:Intellectual Property in Contemporary China (Cornell University Press,2005),China’s Water Warriors:Citizen Action and Policy Change (Cornell University Press,2008),and Brothers in Arms:Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge,1975–1979 (Cornell University Press,2014). He published an edited volume,May Ehara’s Svay:A Cambodian Village,with an Introduction by Judy Ledgerwood,in 2018. [11]
In 2006,Mertha testified for the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission and briefed the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. [12] He was part of congressional delegation to Beijing,Xinjiang,and Shanghai to discuss terrorism and narcotics trafficking. [7]
Mertha is on the board of directors of the Center for Khmer Studies,the only American Overseas Research Center in mainland Southeast Asia. [13] He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations,and an alumnus of its Public Intellectuals Program,2008–2010,a fellowship program that aims to strengthen links among U.S. academics,policymakers,opinion leaders,and the public to increase Americans' understanding of China. [14] He is also a member of the American Political Science Association,Association for Asian Studies,and International Studies Association and sits on several editorial committees of Journal of Comparative Politics, The China Quarterly ,and Asian Survey .[ citation needed ]
The history of Cambodia,a country in mainland Southeast Asia,can be traced back to Indian civilization. Detailed records of a political structure on the territory of what is now Cambodia first appear in Chinese annals in reference to Funan,a polity that encompassed the southernmost part of the Indochinese peninsula during the 1st to 6th centuries. Centered at the lower Mekong,Funan is noted as the oldest regional Hindu culture,which suggests prolonged socio-economic interaction with maritime trading partners of the Indosphere in the west. By the 6th century a civilization,called Chenla or Zhenla in Chinese annals,firmly replaced Funan,as it controlled larger,more undulating areas of Indochina and maintained more than a singular centre of power.
The Cambodian government has diplomatic relations with most countries,including the United States,the United Kingdom,and France,as well as all of its Asian neighbors,including China,India,Vietnam,Laos,South Korea,and Thailand. The government is a member of most major international organizations,including the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The government is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) member,a member of ASEAN,and of the WTO. In 2005 Cambodia attended the inaugural East Asia Summit. The government is also a member of the Pacific Alliance and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
Cambodia,officially the Kingdom of Cambodia,is a country in Mainland Southeast Asia,spanning an area of 181,035 square kilometres,bordered by Thailand to the northwest,Laos to the north,Vietnam to the east,and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest. The capital and most populous city is Phnom Penh.
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a graduate school of Johns Hopkins University based in Washington,D.C. with campuses in Bologna,Italy and Nanjing,China. It has consistently been ranked one of the top graduate schools for international relations in the world. Foreign Policy has rated it among the top three programs globally since 2005,earning third,second,and first place across different years' editions.
Theda Skocpol is an American sociologist and political scientist,who is currently the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology at Harvard University. She is best known as an advocate of the historical-institutional and comparative approaches,as well as her "state autonomy theory". She has written widely for both popular and academic audiences. She has been President of the American Political Science Association and the Social Science History Association.
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The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe in Bologna,Italy,is the European campus of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS),a division of Johns Hopkins University located in Washington,D.C. SAIS degree programs emphasize international economics,international relations,EU policy and global risk with options to specialize in a broad range of other policy areas and geographic regions.
Bilateral relations between the United States and Cambodia,while strained throughout the Cold War,have strengthened considerably in modern times. The U.S. supports efforts in Cambodia to combat terrorism,build democratic institutions,promote human rights,foster economic development,eliminate corruption.
The bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Cambodia and the People's Republic of China have strengthened considerably after the end of the Cambodian–Vietnamese War,during which China had supported the Khmer Rouge against Vietnam.
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Kent E. Calder was the Interim Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He serves as the Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies,and is also the Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of East Asian Studies at SAIS. He previously served as the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation at SAIS.
The Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodian citizens by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Communist Party of Kampuchea general secretary Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people from 1975 to 1979,nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population in 1975. It is an example of democide.
Sophal Ear is a Cambodian-American political scientist and expert in political economy,diplomacy,world affairs,and international development. A refugee from Cambodia,he studied at Princeton University and at the University of California,Berkeley. He has published extensively on Cambodian genocide and international aid and gives regular talks on these subjects.
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