EXPERTS ADVISORY

Leaders of G20 members, guest countries and international organizations will gather for the G20 Summit Sept. 4-5 in Hangzhou, China. University of Michigan experts can discuss various topics related to the G20, including the world economy, climate change, cyber crime, the South China Sea, China’s global economic leadership, the Ukrainian crisis and U.S-Turkey relations.

WORLD ECONOMY

Alan Deardorff is a professor of international economics and public policy.

“The objectives of the forthcoming G20 Summit are mostly vague, and I don’t know what of substance they will seek to accomplish,” he said. “One exception is a clear goal that has already been met: ratification of expanded IMF quotas, which was delayed for years by the U.S. Congress, but was finally done last December.

“A second exception is the push to ratify the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which has taken longer than hoped but now looks to be on track with or without the summit. Perhaps it’s good that so little hangs on the success of the summit, since it’s likely to be distracted from positive actions by disagreements among major participating countries.”

Contact: 734-764-6817, [email protected]

Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor at the Ross School of Business, focuses on entrepreneurship and technology commercialization, venture capital, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and digital and mobile marketing.

“I am not optimistic that the G20 ministers can do much to revive global growth,” he said. “They have made money free, pumped money into their economies and have seen the effectiveness of continuing those policies diminish to nearly zero. They can continue to do what isn’t working and they can do what ministers at meetings are quite good at—they can issue proclamations. What they can’t do is move the world from a risk off, weak demand world to a risk on, growth world.”

Contact: 734-764-5274, [email protected]

Linda Lim is a professor of strategy at the Ross School of Business whose expertise includes political economy and business-government relations.

Contact: 734-763-0290, [email protected]

CHINA

Yuen Yuen Ang is an assistant professor of political science. Her research focuses on international development, complexity studies and Chinese political economy. She is the author of “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap.” She can talk about China’s global economic leadership and China’s role model for the developing world.

“The Chinese leadership should take the opportunity of the G20 summit to rethink its domestic balance of state planning and flexibility,” she said. “When the central leadership tries to exert micro-control, whether over stock markets or civil society, it usually fails miserably. It does best, instead, when it directs local governments and businesses to improvise diverse solutions that fit their own conditions.

“This model of governance—which I call ‘directed improvisation’—has driven China’s astounding transformation since 1978. It is the model that the Xi leadership should revisit, as well as an alternative to the Washington Consensus that China can usefully offer to other developing nations.”

Contact: 734-936-0089, [email protected]

Mary Gallagher, professor of political science and director of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies, is an expert on Chinese politics, law and society.

Contact: 734-615-9154, [email protected]

SOUTH CHINA SEA

John Ciorciari is an associate professor at the Ford School of Public Policy. His research focuses on Southeast Asia and examines foreign policy strategies, human rights and the reform of international economic institutions.

Contact: 734-615-6947, [email protected]

CLIMATE CHANGE

Joe Arvai is the Max McGraw Professor of Sustainable Enterprise and director of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise. He is a member of the EPA’s Chartered Science Advisory Board and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences’ Board on Environmental Change and Society.

“The upcoming G20 meeting in Hangzhou provides the first real opportunity for leaders from around the world to begin the heavy lift that will be associated with implementing the UNFCCC agreement reached during COP21,” he said. “But, it’s no secret that climate and sustainability won’t be the only items on the official and unofficial meeting agendas. From issues like this November’s presidential election in the U.S. and Brexit in the U.K., to talk of Russia’s hacking of the DNC, there are likely to be several distractions for leaders.

“At the same time, there’s a lot on the official agenda that speaks to the question of how to leverage the power of the public and private sectors to achieve balanced growth in the global economy while also respecting both the COP21 agreement and the United Nations’ lauded Sustainable Development Goals. It’ll be very interesting to see how the meeting unfolds.”

Contact: 734-647-3891, [email protected], @DecisionLab (Twitter)

Arun Agrawal, professor of natural resources and environment, was a lead author of the livelihoods and poverty chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2014 report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability.

Contact: 734-647-5948, [email protected]

CYBER CRIME

J. Alex Halderman, professor of computer science and engineering, directs the Center for Computer Security and Society and is an expert on computer security and privacy.

Contact: 734-647-1806, 609-558-2312 (mobile), [email protected]

Atul Prakash, professor of computer science, is an expert on security policy management, privacy in pervasive computing, intrusion detection and group security.

Contact: 734-763-1585, [email protected]

UKRAINIAN CRISIS

Melvyn Levitsky, professor of international policy and practice at the Ford School of Public Policy, can discuss a sideline meeting that will take place between leaders of Russia, Germany and France, amid increased hostilities between pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian government. During his 35-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Levitsky served as officer-in-charge of U.S.-Soviet bilateral relations. He was also a political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

“Germany and France want to lessen the chances that Putin will make another incursion into Eastern Ukraine in response to an alleged Ukrainian attack that killed two Russian soldiers,” he said. “Such an incursion would make any diminution of sanctions impossible. In fact, it could bring tougher sanctions. It’s clear that Merkel and Hollande would like to have sanctions gradually lifted so that more regular trade in goods and services could resume between Russia and Europe.”

Contact: 734-615-4262, [email protected]

U.S.-TURKEY RELATIONS

Ronald Suny, professor of history, is an expert on nationalism and genocide. He is the author of “A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire.” He can talk about U.S. and Turkey relations, the potential outcomes of the sideline meeting between President Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

Contact: 734-646-1498, [email protected]