Elizabeth Wishnick

Former Public Policy Scholar

Term

January 3, 2012 — April 30, 2012

Professional affiliation

Associate Professor, Department of Politics and Law, Montclair State University Senior Research Scholar, Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

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Wilson Center Projects

“China as a Risk Society”

Full Biography

I first developed the concept for my monograph, China as a Risk Society, as a result of my experience as a Fulbright lecturer in Hong Kong in 2002-2003, the year of the SARS crisis, when I observed a complete turnaround in China’s relations with its neighbors due to the Chinese government’s mishandling of the epidemic. Although I have written a great deal over the past decade about great power relations in Asia, that year in Hong Kong refocused my interest on the impact of non-traditional security issues such as epidemics, environmental degradation, and food safety on China’s relations with its neighbors.

My earlier work focused on Russia’s China policy. After learning Chinese and spending some years in China I have continued my interest in China-Russia relations, this time from the Chinese perspective. In recent years I have examined China-Russia-U.S. relations in Central Asia and currently I am working on an article on China’s Afghanistan policy.

Education:
B.A. Barnard College (Political Science); M.A. Yale University (Russian and East European Studies); Ph.D. Columbia University (International Relations)

Major Publications

Mending Fences with China: The Evolution of Moscow's China Policy from Brezhnev to Yeltsin (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001).
Russia, China, and the U.S. in Central Asia: Competition and Cooperation in the Shadow of the Georgian Crisis, Paper commissioned by Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, February 2009.
“Dilemmas of Securitization and Health Risk Management in the People’s Republic of China: The Cases of SARS and Avian Flu,” Health Policy and Planning, Vol. 25, Issue 6 November 2010, pp. 454-466.
“Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership: View from China,” in James Bellacqua, ed. China-Russia Relations in the Early 21st Century, Louisville: University of Kentucky Press, January 2010.
“Competition and Cooperative Practices in Sino-Japanese Energy and Environmental Relations: Towards an Energy Security ‘Risk Community’?” Pacific Review Vol. 22, No. 4, September 2009, pp. 399-426.
“Of Milk and Spacemen: The Paradox of Chinese Power in an Era of Risk, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Vol. XV, Issue II, Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 211-224.
“The Securitization of Chinese Migration to Russia: Rhetoric and Reality,” In eds. Melissa Curley and Wong Siu-lun, Migration and Securitisation in East Asia, Routledge Press, 2008.

Previous Terms

November 30, 1992 - December 31, 1992 Mending Fences with China: The Evolution of Moscow’s China Policy, 1969-1991