China and Russia Revisited
By the early 1990s, the contrasts between the world’s two former Communist giants seemed to far outweigh the similarities. Twenty years later, the countries have a surprising amount in common again.
Spring 2025
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The Renminbi’s Rollercoaster
As China’s economic prospects darken, headlines worldwide accuse China’s leaders of threatening global capitalism. Once upon a time, that was precisely the point.
Why Fighting Air Pollution and Stopping Climate Change Aren’t the Same Thing
Unless it’s done right, fighting air pollution in cities like Beijing and Delhi won’t necessarily reduce carbon emissions.
Belabored Podcast #88: Dismantling Two-Tier
Recent contract negotiations at Fiat Chrysler are signaling an end to the infamous two-tier wage system. We speak with Chrysler worker Alex Wassell and Professor of Industrial Relations at Clark University Gary Chaison about the new deal.
Mark Zuckerberg, Joshua Wong, and the Curious Lure of the Chinese Market
Last week, while some commentators mused on the possibility of Pope Francis and Xi Jinping bumping into each other during their dueling high-profile U.S. tours, I pondered instead what two much younger men would say if they ran into each …
“Masters of the People”: China’s New Urban Poor
Political scientists Dorothy Solinger and Mark Frazier talk to Jeffrey Wasserstrom about China’s often overlooked urban poor, and how their conditions are—and aren’t—changing.
Out of Sight: The Labor Abuses Behind What We Eat
The food industry outsources production for the same reasons as other industries—to pollute and to exploit workers while minimizing resistance from locals and labor.
In Hong Kong, Remembering and Forgetting Tiananmen
This year’s vigil for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre revealed new fractures in Hong Kong’s democracy movement.
Chinese Labor Divided
China’s recent uptick in labor unrest has given leftists hope that the world’s largest working class is building a labor movement to match its scale. But Chinese workers are still far from having a national voice.
[VIDEO] Asia and Dissent in a Time of Strongman Leaders
In February, Dissent and the India-China Institute co-hosted a panel on “Asia and Dissent in a Time of Strongman Leaders” at the New School, with Alexis Dudden speaking on Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Nina Khrushcheva on Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Ross Perlin on China’s Xi Jinping, and Sanjay Ruparelia on India’s Narendra Modi. The panel was moderated by Dissent editorial board member Jeffrey Wasserstrom.
China’s Dream Parks
Since 1989, thousands of theme parks have been built across China, in an uncanny reflection of the country’s economic liberalization.
[EVENT] Asia and Dissent in a Time of Strongman Leaders
Please join us this Thursday in NYC for a roundtable discussion with experts on China, India, Japan, and Russia, hosted by the India-China Institute at the New School. Moderator: Jeff Wasserstrom, Chancellor’s professor of History, University of California at Irvine; …
Japan’s Island Problem
How U.S. policy, ancestral wounds, and international law have led to an era of ocean imperialism
Belabored Bonus Edition: Han Dongfang on Shop-Floor Democracy in China
Pro-democracy activism in China takes many forms. For longtime labor activist Han Dongfang, it starts on the shop floor. In this Belabored bonus edition, the veteran of the Tiananmen Square uprising and director of China Labour Bulletin discusses his vision for social change in China, and the promise and the peril of labor organizing in the engine of global capitalism.
Stability Maintenance
Can the “umbrella movement” shake Beijing’s grip on Hong Kong’s silent majority?
