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Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was interviewed by Agence France-Presse about the death of Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist Party chief.  Zhao had been under house arrest and was stripped of all his positions in 1989 for refusing to support the military crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. According to the article Li predicts Zhao's death would not lead to instability. "The intellectuals and public of China are not in the mood for revolution,"he said. "They believe that incremental reform is in the best interest of China." Li was also quoted in the London Times article "China cautious, but Zhao death not seen triggering protests."

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was quoted in the Newsweek article "Mourning Zhao." According to the article party elites are sensitive to persistent demands to pursue Zhao's path of reform and to overturn the verdict on Zhao and Tiananmen. "Most worrisome of all for those in power is the possibility those looming questions could divide them," says Li. So they are reacting somewhat more nimbly than in the past to show "they will not allow any of this to happen," he says. "They don't want to be so incompetent as to provoke a backlash."

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was interviewed on the CBC radio show "As it Happens," on Jan 17. Li commented on the death of Zhao Ziyang.

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, provided commentary in three radio interviews on Tuesday, Jan. 11. Li was interviewed by the BBC World Service on the forecast of political changes in China in 2005; discussed the provincial leadership change in China with Radio Asia; and commented on Shanghai's role in regional economic development in a VOA interview.

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was quoted in the BBC News article "China's leader shows his stripes." Li said, "As a wise politician, Hu Jintao quickly sensed that his mandate was to fix the serious problems that occurred during the Jiang era. These include Jiang's favourable policies towards Shanghai and other coastal regions at the expense of the interior, his single-minded goal to increase the GDP without paying attention to social cohesion, and his obsession with patron-client ties."

Cheng Li, the William R. Kenan Professor of Government, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal article, "China's Study-Abroad Program," on Thursday, Jan. 6. According to the article, "the Communist Party's Organization Department selects promising officials to study at Harvard, provincial and municipal governments have begun asking other Western public-administration schools to train their cadres." Li, an expert on China's leadership and author of China's Leaders: The New Generation, says he believes these programs will have a substantial impact on China's political transformation. "Although the lessons focus more on technical aspects of governance, their essence is to make government more accountable to the public and to emphasize the importance of the rule of law. This will help familiarize future Chinese leaders with international norms and values, and make the policy-making process in China more scientific, rational and democratic," he says.

Professor of Anthropology Doug Raybeck was interviewed for an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about U.S. relief efforts related to the Indian Ocean tsunami. Raybeck, who lived in and researched communities in Southeast Asia, said American efforts have more chance of success in Indonesia and other countries affected by the tsunami. "The people who are most unhappy with the U.S., the truly conservative Muslims, are still a minority in Indonesia," he said. Most Indonesian Muslims practice moderate forms of Sunni and Shiite Islam and traditionally tend toward religious tolerance. Raybeck also said, "The al Qaeda types will want their spin -- they'll want us to be seen as self-interested, using this as a photo-op. But in all honesty, most of this effort is toward directing aid, so that's a hard one to make stick. It's going to take time for the U.S. to recapture our credibility, but this will help."

Professor of Anthropology Doug Raybeck was interviewed for an article in the Utica Observer-Dispatch (12/28/04) about the destructive tsunami that hit South Asia on December 26. Raybeck, who lived and worked in Malaysia for four years, said that the country will fare better than others in the disaster area because it has efficient services. Many people in that part of the world live in homes with woven roofs, Raybeck said. "People who live in the traditional houses -- which are very light and flimsy and up on stilts to avoid heavy rains and flood waters -- they will lose absolutely everything and many will lose their lives," he said. Raybeck predicts that the aftermath of the quake will take more lives. "If dead bodies are not immediately cleaned up, there will be an incredible increase in diseases such as cholera. It's difficult to imagine the magnitude of the catastrophe."

Mary Bonauto '83 was named one of the Boston Globe "Bostonians of the Year" for 2004 and featured in the newspaper's Sunday magazine (12/26/04). Bonauto was the lead counsel in the landmark 2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that ruled to allow gay marriages. She is the civil rights project director for the Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).

Ann Owen, former Federal Reserve economist and associate professor of economics, was quoted in the San Antonio Express-News article titled "Saving Social Security." Owen said, "I think that a modest amount of Social Security dedicated to private accounts would be fine. But I don't want us to forget the dual purposes of Social Security. One of the purposes of Social Security is redistribution to prevent poverty among the elderly. And can you have private accounts that have that as a goal? Yes, you can. But it can also interfere with that goal."