Faculty and Local Partners

Jessica Teets

Jessica C. Teets is a Professor at Middlebury College, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Political Science.  Her research focuses on governance in authoritarian regimes, especially the role of civic participation.  She is the author of Civil Society Under Authoritarianism: The China Model (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and editor (with William Hurst) of Local Governance Innovation in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance (Routledge Contemporary China Series, 2014), in addition to articles published in The China QuarterlyWorld PoliticsGovernance, and the Journal of Contemporary China.  Dr. Teets is currently working on a new book manuscript (with Dr. Xiang Gao) on changing governance under Xi Jinping, and a forthcoming edited volume (with University of Michigan Press) developing a theory of how to lobby dictators (with Dr. Max Grömping).

Wei Liang

Professor Liang specializes in international trade and development policy, global economic and environmental governance and international negotiation, international political economy of East Asia and Chinese foreign economic policy. Her research and teaching have concentrated on the governance of the national and world economy—how foreign economic policy is made domestically and why governments and international organizations do what do in international economic relations. She has conducted field research in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United states, in order to learn directly from the policy practitioners. Many institutions have invited her to lecture—in the UK, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore as well as the United States. She is a member of International Studies Association, American Political Science Association and former president of Association of Chinese Political Studies (ACPS).

Boreth Sun

Boreth is an international development and trade consultant with over 30 years of experience. He hails from Cambodia and has dedicated his career to development worth in Southeast Asia. He is skilled in Rural Development, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Project Management, Strategic Planning, and Capacity Building with prior Chief of Party roles. Boreth earned his MA in Global Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

AltruVistas

AltruVistas, as sustainable travel organization, is providing local support for this course.

Site Visits

The group has plans to meet with most of the following contacts:

GovernmentIGO/NGO/Local CommunityPrivate Sector
Thai Ministry of Industry and TradeWaterkeeper Affiliate Chiang Khong Conservation GroupSeo Chong Ho hydro site
Vietnam’s Ministry of EnergyNational Bureau of Asian ResearchChina Power Investment, Co
Local government officialsWorld BankAdditional hydropower sites
US State DepartmentEnergy Research InstituteTrade Associations
Public University ProfessorsMekong Energy and Ecology NetworkEnergy Company Representatives