The Impact of the Olympics: Daniel Lynch

Dan Lynch teaches in the USC School of International Relations and is a member of the USC U.S.-China Institute executive committee. He’s the author of two books, Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to Global Culture (2006) and After the Propaganda State: Media, Politics, and “Thought Work” (1999). He publishes extensively in academic journals and also in popular publications such as the Far Eastern Economic Review. Lynch is currently researching how Chinese political and intellectual elites expect China will, or should, change in the years leading up to about 2030. He is focusing on five interrelated issue-areas: domestic political processes and institutions; comprehensive national power and its implications for the country's role(s) in world politics; Party-state defense of cultural integrity and national identity under conditions of deepening globalization; development and diffusion of potentially transformative new technologies; and prospects for achieving sustainable development.

This video is also available on the USCI YouTube Channel.

Click on the play button above to see Dan Lynch’s presentation at the Beijing Olympics conference.

Prof. Lynch discussed the presentations of Xu Xin, Jeff Wasserstrom, and Shen Dingli. He marked the distinction China’s government makes between international and global realms, stressing that in electing to embrace the former and not the latter, China’s authorities are denying the existence of truly universal values. Instead, they push for tolerance of differences among nations, arguing that harmonious interaction is still possible and desirable. Lynch also noted that it is extraordinarily difficult to use big events such as the Olympics to convey set images of a country. Once dispatched, images can be picked up and used by others in various ways.

Please click here to return to the USC 2008 Beijing Olympics conference page.