BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN
TZID:America/New_York
X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:335@harvard-yenching.org
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231207T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231207T130000
DTSTAMP:20231130T232908Z
URL:https://www.harvard-yenching.org/events/book-talk-public-interest-and-
 state-legitimation-early-modern-england-japan-and-china-cambridge-cambridg
 e-university-press-2023-cambridge-studies-in-historical-sociology/
SUMMARY:Book talk: Public Interest and State Legitimation: Early Modern Eng
 land\, Japan\, and China
DESCRIPTION:Co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies\, the R
 eischauer Institute of Japanese Studies\, and the Asia Center\n\nIn this b
 ook\, Public Interest and State Legitimation: Early Modern England\, Japa
 n\, and China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press\, 2023)\, Wenkai He e
 xamines the connections between state capacity\, state legitimation and th
 e expansion of political participation. He demonstrates how in each case a
  public interest-based discourse of state legitimation provided a common p
 latform upon which state and society collaborated to provide public goods 
 such as famine relief and large-scale infrastructural facilities. In this 
 way\, state and society strove to overcome their respective weaknesses in 
 attaining good governance. Moreover\, each discourse of state legitimation
  entailed ‘passive rights’ that allowed subordinates to justify their 
 demands on the state to redress welfare grievances\; these often took the 
 form of collective actions. Conflicts between domestic welfare and other d
 imensions of public interest\, however\, could instigate cross-regional an
 d cross-sectoral mass petitions for fundamental political reforms that wer
 e likewise justified by the state’s proclaimed duty to safeguard the pub
 lic interest\; these mass petitions might ultimately transform the state. 
 Such a political ‘great divergence’ occurred in England (1760s-1780s) 
 and Japan (1870s-1880s)\, but not in China.
LOCATION:Common Room (#136)\, 2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambridge\, MA\, United S
 tates
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=2 Divinity Avenue\, Cambrid
 ge\, MA\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Common Room (#136):geo:
 0,0
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20231105T010000
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
END:VCALENDAR