Lynch on China and the Olympics

With the 2008 Summer Olympics now underway in Beijing, the spotlight is on China to see if their role as host will cast a new image on the communist nation which has recently been under attack by civil rights groups for its stance in Tibet and Sudan.

Daniel C. Lynch, author of Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to "Global Culture" in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan, recently wrote an article for Far Eastern Economic Review entitled "Will the Olympics Change China?"

Lynch notes that the Olympics is a prime example of China's integration into global affairs which along with their rapid economic development and Internet usage are proving how Chinese society is changing.

Lynch notes that despite the fact that these developments are often moves toward democratization, there are several reasons why democracy will be more difficult to apply in China. For example, the popularity of patriotic notions that democracy is a ploy by Japan and the West to impede China's progress contributes to the nation's resistance to political change.

Read Lynch's full article here.